- Pak Army cries hoarse in denial
By Sangeeta Saxena.
New Delhi. 29 September 2016. The commandoes who went into the strike and came out successful will be a very happy lot, glad that the government had decided to make this operation public. The India Pakistan narrative has changed for ever. India announcing it had done surgical strikes at seven launch pads of terrorists across the LoC and Pakistan crying hoarse that no such strike had been done.
Going a step ahead in lack of communication within Pak army says no surgical strike and Pak PM condemns aggression. And the most interesting fact being that more than 24 hours after Indian action, no country has condemned it. In an earlier government this would have already invited sanctions against India. Today is an important day for Modi bashers who left not a stone unturned to criticise his foreign visits and stress on international relations to understand that global good will does pay dividends .
Pakistan’s civilian and military leadership reacted after India’s Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) Lt Gen Ranbir Singh announced this at a joint press conference organised by Ministry of External affairs and Ministry of Defence. The Pakistan Foreign Office summoned Indian envoy Gautam Bambawale and lodged a protest against ceasefire violations along the LoC, sources said. Pakistan denied that Indian troops had carried out surgical strikes across the Line of Control, saying it had responded to “cross-border fire” from the Indian side that killed two soldiers and injured nine more.
As per the Press Release No PR334/2016-ISPR, Dated: September 29, 2016, originating from Rawalpindi released by the Inter Services Public Relations of Pakistan, there has been no surgical strike by India, instead there had been cross LOC fire initiated and conducted by India which is existential phenomenon. As per rules of engagement same was strongly and befittingly responded by Pakistani troops. The notion of surgical strike linked to alleged terrorists bases is an illusion being deliberately generated by Indian to create false effects. This quest by Indian establishment to create media hype by rebranding cross border fire as surgical strike is fabrication of truth. Pakistan has made it clear that if there is a surgical strike on Pakistani soil, same will be strongly responded.
If sources are to be believed more than 38 were killed. These were the ones they could count, there were many who were shredded to bits due to use of weapons like RPO flame throwers, Carl Gustafs etc. The estimate should be from 60-70 terrorist and 6 to 10 Pakistan Army soldiers. A platoon of Paras went in silent from well inside our territory. Their target was 3 launching pads deeper into POK, around 2-3km in. These were the larger groups, around 12 terrorists at each site. Paras wasted them quietly, they didn’t know what hit them, they wasted the sentries with silenced sniper shots and most were slaughtered in their sleep. This was an actual revenge of Uri.
“This was a delicate, deliberate operations exceedingly well planned and executed. Excellent response at the military level , it is equitable and proportional response to Uri. Demonstrates politico – military will and showcases the capability and capacity of the army to execute such surgical operations. Zero moon minus one day, no moon, no light helped in the success of the operation. This was a classical surgical operation, well coordinated and executed at zero cost,” stated Lt. Gen. VK Bhatia (retd), ex-DGMO and a Para Commando himself told ADU.
As a backup from Dogra and Bihar Regiments, fire was opened on the posts near 3 launching pads closer to the LOC (around 600m-1.2km in), the adjoining posts were destroyed rapidly, also is the news emanating from corridors of power that be.
Lt Gen. Balli Pawar (retd) former Director General of the Army Aviation Corps while talking with ADU reiterated, “it was a very well executed surgical operation across the LoC without suffering any causality on our side and this ops has sent the right message to the Pakistani Army and the terror network operating on its behest. “
Meanwhile Pakistan seemed struck hard. Members of Standing Committee on Defence Production headed by Khawaja Sohail Mansoor visited GHQ. COAS General Raheel Sharif welcomed the parliamentarians to GHQ. Pakistan Army’s DGMO briefed the committee on current security situation on borders, entire threat spectrum and operational preparedness of the Army. COAS had detailed discussion on various issues related to national security. Khawaja Sohail Mansoor Chairman of the Standing Committee on Defence Production thanked COAS on behalf of all visiting members for the warm welcome and hospitality extended to them at GHQ. He said that entire nation is proud of its valiant armed forces and will always stand behind them during war and peace. However much they deny , India’s pre-emptive strike had left Pakistani defence set up shaken.
“If at all we ever plan a pre-emptive strike , assessment of the other sides’ air defence resources must be undertaken very comprehensively to ensure minimum attrition by air defence resources through optimal mission packaging and judicious route planning. And Indian defence forces have never failed to keep these vital parameters into account, “ futuristically thinking and praising the operation, ex DG Air Defence, Lt. Gen VK Saxena explained.
Based on receiving specific and credible inputs that some terrorist teams had positioned themselves at launch pads along Line of Control to carryout infiltration and conduct terrorist strikes inside Jammu and Kashmir and in various metros in other states, the Indian Army conducted surgical strikes at several of these launch pads to pre-empt infiltration by terrorists.
“For all such operations you need a pin pointed intelligence which must contain the location of the camps, people present in the camps , arms and ammunition they have and their alertness. These things are important for any surgical operation. In yesterday’s four hour operation they had the exact information about the location that is why the two army helicopters were utilised and in the operation they were able to kill 30 to 40 terrorists and 8 to 9 Pak army personnel without any casualty to self. This is feasible only because of precise intelligence inputs,” said JK Verma, ex-R&AW officer who has been posted in Pakistan.
And for once all political parties which includes the opposition are standing in solidarity behind the Prime Minister’s decision to conduct the strikes. Over the last ten days, the Congress had been urging the government to respond strongly to Pakistan, post the announcement said in a statement that the party “stands with the government in its actions today to protect our country’s security and deal with the menace of terrorism from across the border. Congratulating the Army, Congress hoped that “Pakistan will recognise that it bears a great responsibility in the continuing cross-border terrorist attacks against India” and said that she expected Islamabad to take “effective action to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism that it has supporte.”
Government of India sent a non-triumphant, non provocative message that surgical strike was on terrorists and not on the Pakistani Army. In a way, Pakistan should be thanking India for these operations. Pakistan’s official position is that it is itself a victim of terrorism and is fighting it to the best of it’s ability. However, it appears they are unable to do that themselves. The Indian operations are “augmenting” Pakistan’s efforts in fighting terrorism!
