It was the morning of September 29, 2016, and India was waking up to news of an Indian Army operation across the Line of Control (LoC).
Overnight, the Indian Army had targeted terrorist launch pads in an operation announced as a response to the September 18 Uri attack that killed 19 soldiers. The final toll rose to 19. In March 2017, the Defence Ministry said compensation had been approved for the families of 19 soldiers martyred in the Uri attack.
The Indian Army announced the operation in a carefully worded briefing that morning, with then Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) Lt Gen Ranbir Singh saying the strikes had been carried out based on “specific and credible inputs” about terrorist teams positioned at launch pads along the LoC. The operation, he said, was aimed at preventing the teams from infiltrating into Jammu and Kashmir and carrying out attacks in the country. “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,” Singh said. “We cannot allow the terrorists to operate across the Line of Control with impunity and attack citizens of our country at will,” Singh said. He also said India intended to maintain “peace and tranquillity in the region”. Calling it a “major, historic achievement”, Modi said the Indian Army had carried out the strikes, against terrorist hideouts across the LoC. He said the manner in which Indian soldiers crossed the LoC to act against terrorism had “astonished” the world.
“The Surgical Strike boldly demonstrated to the entire world a new example of India’s counter-terrorism policy,” Modi said, describing it as India’s “decisive response” to the pain caused by terrorist attacks.
