- Will surgical strikes become the strategy for anti-terror operations?
BY JK Verma
New Delhi. 30 September 2016. Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) Lt. General Ranbir Singh who vociferously claimed a few days back that the sacrifice of army personnel would not go waste and the army would avenge the terrorist attack on Army base at Uri in which 18 innocent soldiers were martyred, proved that his statement was not a tall claim when he announced in a joint press with Ministry of External Affairs on September 29 that “The Army has conducted surgical strikes on terror launch pads on the LoC and significant casualties have been caused. The motive of this operation was to hit out at the terrorists who were planning to infiltrate into our territory”.
It was a well coordinated operation in which more than 200 army personnel took part. The operation was supervised by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval and Army Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag. And with the operation behind and successful it was time to let the nation and world know the reason for conducting it.
India briefed top envoys of 25 countries including the US, China, Russia, the UK and France. Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar invited the envoys at South Block to convey the “context” of carrying out the strikes. He told them that it was “a classic counter-terrorism operation more than a military one” and that it was to neutralise terrorists who were trained to carry out attacks in Jammu and Kashmir and other major Indian cities.They were also told that India has no plans for any further operation as of now but added the armed forces will not allow terrorists to carry out any attacks.
Meanwhile Rajnath Singh the Home Minister called an all party meet and briefed leaders of major political parties on the situation in the wake of Army’s surgical strike targeting terror launch pads across the Line of Control. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and NSA Ajit Doval were present at the meet attended by BJP chief Amit Shah, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury, JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav, Union Minister and LJP leader Ram Vilas Paswan and NCP leader Sharad Pawar among others Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu, BSP’s Satish Mishra and RJD’s Prem Chand Gupta also attended the meet. Principal Secretary to PM Nripendra Singh was also present. Earlier, the Home Minister had informed Chief Ministers of West Bengal, Odisha, Punjab, Bihar and other states about the strikes.
And for the uninitiated let us understand what a surgical strike is. A surgical strike is a military attack which results in, was intended to result in, or is claimed to have resulted in only damage to the intended legitimate military target, and no or minimal collateral damage to surrounding structures, vehicles, buildings, or the general public infrastructure and utilities.
A swift and targeted attack with the aim of minimum collateral damage to the nearby areas and civilians is a surgical strike. Neutralization of targets with such strikes also prevents escalation to a full blown war. These attacks can be carried out via air strike, airdropping special ops teams or a swift ground operation or by sending special troops.
In Pakistan, the term has been defined both by the Pakistani military and the civilian experts on Pakistani military on the issue of Surgical strike. The military identified the term as :”A surgical strike is one that comes as a surprise and is conducted with surgical efficiency. It happens when an entity does the job and comes out. It is not messy. There is no collateral damage.”
The Indian military defined the term as: “For starters, it is not a war or a call for it. Surgical strikes are military operations undertaken by forces across the world to move on the offensive, hit enemy targets and installations, and return to primary positions – all with lightening speed and with the added precaution of suffering limited casualty.”
On September 29, within a fortnight of terrorist attack on Army Camp in Uri, Indian army successfully took revenge by launching a surgical attack on 5 launching pads of terrorists in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK). The surgical strike which continued for about 4 hours, was well planned and was based on reliable intelligence. In the short operation more than 40 terrorists of various terrorist outfits, few guides and 8-9 Pakistani army officials who were the handling Officers (HOs) and trainers of these terrorists were exterminated. However the number of causalities of terrorists may be more which would be ascertained after seeing the photographic images of the operation.
The sinister Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) collected large number of terrorists of Lashker-e-Toiba (L-e-T) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (J-e-M) to infiltrate in J&K to disturb the peace and tranquility of the state which has returned to normalcy. Secondly ISI also wanted to pump as many terrorists as feasible before the advent of winter season as the routes would be closed in winters.
The Indian army used 2 choppers and at 0030 hours paratroopers of special commandos attacked on these launch pads. The terrorists as well as their handling officers (HOs) were not expecting that Indian troops would cross the border as it is the first time when the Indian political leadership mustered courage to attack and destroy terrorist camps inside POK. Indian army made it clear that the attack was not against Pakistani army but it was against terrorists and it is the foremost duty of the civilized world to eradicate the menace of terrorism.
The reaction of Pakistan was totally confused; Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif while condemning the attack mentioned it as “unprovoked and naked aggression” by India while Pakistani army statement mentioned that “There has been no surgical strike by India, instead there had been cross border fire initiated and conducted by India which is existential phenomenon”. The statement further mentioned that “As per rules of engagement same was strongly and befittingly responded by Pakistani troops.
The notion of surgical strike linked to alleged terrorist bases is an illusion being deliberately generated by Indians to create false effects. This quest by Indian establishment to create media hype by re-branding cross border fire as surgical strike is fabrication of truth.” Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) spokesman further stated that it was a cross border fire which was started by India and continued from 0230 hours to 0800 hours in which 2 Pakistani soldiers were killed however there was no surgical strike and Indian forces have not entered in POK. Pakistani spokesman also mentioned that firing was held at Bhimber, Hotspring Kel and Lipa sectors.
Khawaja Asif Defence Minister of Pakistan also stated that Indian claim of surgical operation is false and it was a cross border firing and small arms were used in it. Khawaja accepted that 9 Pakistani soldiers were injured.
In past Pakistan sponsored terrorists were carrying out terrorist activities in India and India was only threatening and not retaliating, this time Indian forces have entered 3 to 6 KMs inside POK and destroyed five launch pads. Pakistan is bewildered what to do? India is not running terrorist camps or launch pads so Pakistani army or Pakistan Air Force have no targets and if Pakistani forces attack Indian defence or civil installations it will initiate the war in which it is much weaker than India.
Pakistan has 3 options one it will send more terrorists in India to carryout terrorist acts secondly Pakistani agents in J&K will make more demonstrations, agitations and strikes and will try to disturb law and order situation. Thirdly Pakistan can also resort to artillery fire to satisfy its citizens.
As Pakistani army cannot go for surgical strikes it is claiming that there was no surgical strike by Indian forces otherwise the image of Pakistani army which claims to be the savior of Pakistan will be lowered.
The ISI and various terrorist organizations including L-e-T, J-e-M, Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) are running numerous terrorist camps in POK. It is not feasible to give exact number and locations, as the terrorist camps are in temporary locations and are shifted from one place to other. Besides launching pads there are separate terrorist camps for recruitment and training. Training camps for arms training are at diverse places generally inside forests. Indian army attacked launching pads near the borders however the time has come when India should attack training camps of terrorists deep inside POK and then only Pakistani handlers would also fear.
At present Pakistani handling officers and trainers are sitting comfortably in Pakistan and send suicide squads who enter India with the object of killing and to be killed. It is a cheap investment for Pakistan with no risk to handlers or trainers. Now Indian forces have attacked inside POK and killed 8-9 Pakistani handlers so they must have realized that now they are also in danger zone.
India will also learn the reaction of Pakistan. Indian security forces have taken requisite precautions by cancelling the leave of personnel of Western Command and Border Security Force. The villagers residing within 10 K.Ms of Indo Pak border are also told to vacate their villages as precautionary measures is also correct as it is expected that Pakistani army will resort to indiscriminate shelling on the border villages.
Indian government is convincing various nations about the compulsion of this surgical action. Ajit Doval talked to his American counterpart Susan Rice after the operation in the morning and told about the operation. Ministry of External Affairs also contacted large number of Foreign offices and Ambassadors and apprised them about the surgical strike.
Whole of Kashmir is the integral part of India hence POK is also Indian territory and surgical strike in POK is different than strike in Karachi or Rawalpindi. This surgical strike in POK is a warning to Pakistan that if it does not stop low intensity war against India there would be more strikes and that would be deep inside POK or in other areas too. India has played a master stroke by informing Pakistani DGMO about the surgical strike. Indian DGMO made it clear that the strike was against terrorists and not against Pakistani army.
This surgical strike has also enhanced the image of ruling Bhartiya Janta Party and Prime Minister Modi. The Indian masses were fed up by listening strong anti terrorist and anti Pakistan statements with the promise that stringent action would be taken in due course but no worthwhile action was taken so far. This is the first time in Indian history that Indian forces carried out surgical attack inside POK may be only 3-6 KMs inside. A meeting of Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) was chaired by PM in which the present operation was discussed in detail.
Besides surgical strike India should also withdraw Most Favoured Nations status from Pakistan and Indus Water Treaty of 1960 should also be analyzed. At present India is not utilizing its full share of water and giving it to Pakistan. India should construct dams so that it can utilize its full share which will also hurt Pakistan.
The strike also gave a blunt signal to Pakistan that now India is not threatened by its nuclear warheads. This surgical strike is also a message to world powers that they must use their good offices to stop Pakistan from carrying out terrorist activities in India as India’s patience is exhausted and it will take some punitive actions. Both the countries are equipped with nuclear weapons therefore the war will be dangerous for whole world.
(Jai Kumar Verma is a Delhi-based strategic analyst and a retired R&AW officer. The views in the article are solely the author’s. He can be contacted at editor.adu@gmail.com)
