The Strikes & The Echo

- John Cherian

There is cause for some optimism as the war clouds have seemingly dissipated following the “surgical strikes” by the Indian Army across the Line of Control (LoC) on the night of September 28-29. The Indian government has indicated that the military strike inside Pakistan-occupied Kashmir has achieved its stated purpose of neutralising “terrorist launch pads” and that it has no immediate plans for further military action. A statement by the Indian government said that the military action had caused “significant casualties on militants preparing to infiltrate from Pakistan”. The Indian military response came in the wake of the terror attack on its base in Uri on September 18, which resulted in the death of 19 Indian servicemen along with four terrorists involved in the operation.

The government of Pakistan, however, claims that there is a lot of hype surrounding the “surgical strikes”, while its Army vehemently sticks to its stand that no physical violation of the LoC took place on the night of September 28-29. Pakistani diplomatic and military officials claim that what actually happened was a short military intrusion accompanied by intense shelling of a Pakistani military post by the Indian Army. According to sources on the Indian side, Indian paratroopers sneaked across the LoC to engage the Pakistan Army and succeeded in inflicting “heavy” casualties. The number of Pakistani casualties initially given out by Indian government spokesmen seems to have been slightly inflated. The Pakistan Army says only two of its soldiers were killed and nine others were injured. The Pakistan military had issued a statement immediately stating that if there is a “surgical strike” on its soil, “it will be strongly responded to”.