Wrap-up: India strikes back

40 number of terrorists believed to be killed in the strike.

How did Pak react to the strike?
Pakistan dismissed as “fabrication of truth” India’s claim that it has conducted a military operation across the LoC to target terrorist launching pads, terming it as a “quest” by India to create media hype by rebranding cross-border fire as surgical strike. “There has been no surgical strike by India, instead there had been cross-border fire initiated and conducted by India which is an existential phenomenon,” Pakistan army said.

How has the world reacted
Pakistan has been forced to put the Saarc summit on hold.

United States
Hillary has expressed concern over the possibility of rise of N-suicide bombers from Pakistan.

Russia
Russia on Friday said it expected Islamabad to take “effective” steps to stop the activities of terrorist groups in its territory.

What is a surgical strike?
A surgical strike is a swift attack undertaken by the military on specific targets to neutralise them while ensuring minimum collateral damage to surrounding areas and civilians.

@chetan_bhagat
Looks like someone justified his chest size today. This is India. You don’t mess with us. Ever. #surgicalstrike.

@SahilBulla:  
I think the only way we can stop Pakistan is by distributing free Samsung Galaxy Note 7 to the Pak army.

@mojorojo
Surgical strike is a slap in the face of everyone who says homeopathy works.

@prakharchoubey9
Surgical strike never happened.We never lost a match to India.

@sidin
India achieves peak outsourcing as it takes out terrorist camps that Pakistan can’t.

@bhaiyyajispeaks
Meanwhile, after hearing about surgical strike Pappu is saying that he will support the surgeons who went on strike!

The Provocation
The attack on Uri 11 days ago was the second major Pakistani provocation in the space of nine months. In January air base at Pathankot attack was attacked.

The Build-up and how it actually happened

1. After the Uri attack on September 18, the government made up its mind that it could not be business as usual with Pakistan. Areas that are generally used to infiltrate militants across the Line of Control were studied.

2. Around 10 sites were identified across the LoC as possible targets. The military operations directorate finally chose four: Bhimber and Tatapani (Hot Springs) in the Poonch-Rajouri sector, Lipa opposite Baramulla and Kel that faces the Kupwara sector.

3. The RAW chief and his key officer in-charge of Pakistan were asked to gather Intelligence from the ground, while the technical intelligence agency, the National Technical Research Organisation, was asked to monitor satellite imagery to detect any movement of the sort associated with infiltration bids.

4. With the PM giving a green signal, NSA Ajit Doval swung into action and set up a command control room in South Block along with Army chief Dalbir Singh Suhag and DGMO Ranbir Singh.

5. The forces had a window of two hours, between 2 and 4 am, to execute the operation and be back well before sunrise.

6. The Special Forces were divided into five small teams each with 8 to 20 commandos. As part of a diversionary tactic Indian security forces opened fire while the para-commandos struck at the launch pads with clinical precision in the dead of the night.

7. Reports suggest that securitymen have inflicted heavy casualties on the militants including killing of two Pakistani soldiers.

DC Take:
For good reason, the nation has welcomed the news of surgical strike as it has bled at the hands of Pakistan-backed terrorists for long. So far, the response by the governments after every terror strike used to be mostly on predictable lines — ‘We won’t be cowed down by terror’ or The sacrifice of the soldiers won’t go waste’ and so on.  

However, it is for the first time that the government has taken some concrete steps to send a really strong message to Pakistan.

The government’s initial efforts to “isolate” Pakistan on a global platform too bore the right results as at least four countries decided to pull out of the Saarc summit to be held in Islamabad.

It is expected that the strikes, the global isolation, India’s rethink on key issues like the Indus Treaty and MFN would have a cumulative positive effect on the neighbouring country and it would do its bit in curbing terror emanating from its soil.