Walking the talk: India’s surgical strikes on terror pads in Pakistan a fitting response to Uri attack

The audacious surgical strikes on seven terror launch pads across the Line of Control (LoC) by India has underscored India’s resolve to punish Pakistan for the Uri terror strike and its continued use of terrorism as an instrument of state policy. The special operation launched by the Indian Army on the intervening night of September 28 and 29 in a nearly five-hour-long operation to destroy terror camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir has been widely welcomed in India and is seen a fitting retaliation for the killing of 18 Indian soldiers in Uri the terror strike. The surgical strikes have also demonstrated to Pakistan and the world that India is not going to suffer any more Pakistan’s duplicity and nuclear blackmail by deploying techniques it considers necessary for the country’s honour and self-defence. The details of the special operation are not clear, but reliable sources disclosed that the launch pads in PoK were located in the range of 2 to 3km from the LoC and were under constant surveillance for over a week. Lt Gen Ranbir Singh, DGMO, made public the strikes on September 29, eleven days after Pakistani militants massacred 18 Indian soldiers at a military camp in north Kashmir. India had launched a concerted diplomatic campaign to isolate Pakistan internationally, but this diplomatic offensive was not seen as an adequate response by an outraged nation that was looking for more decisive action by India against Pakistan. With the latest surgical strikes, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had indicated that he is ready to push the envelope to deal with a recalcitrant Pakistan, whose military establishment has made terrorising and destroying India their perverted mission.