Surgical strike overhyped, politicised: ex-Army officer Lt Gen (retd) DS Hooda
Chandigarh: The initial euphoria over the success of surgical strike was natural but the constant hype around the operation was unwarranted, said former Army officer Lieutenant General D S Hooda (retired), two years after the surgical strikes were carried out by the Army across the Line of Control.
"I do think there was too much hype over it. The military operation was important and we had to do it. Now how much should it have been politicised, whether it is right or wrong is something that should be asked to politicians," Lieutenant General DS Hooda (retired) who was the Northern Army Commander when the operation was carried out on September 29, 2016 across the Line of Control (LoC) as a response to a terrorist attack in Uri earlier that month told news agency ANI.
The Army had said its special forces inflicted "significant casualties" on terrorists waiting there to cross into Indian territory.
Lt Gen Hooda was speaking during a panel discussion on the topic, 'Role of Cross-Border Operations and Surgical Strikes,' on the first day of Military Literature Festival 2018 in Chandigarh.
The discussion was attended by Punjab Governor V P Singh Badnore amongst a battery of former Generals and Army Commanders.
Many war veterans cautioned against "politicisation" of the military operations, as per a Punjab government release.
Lt Gen Hooda said it was natural to have initial euphoria about the success but the constant maintenance of hype around the military operations was unwarranted, the release said.
Responding to a question from the audience, General Hooda said in hindsight, it would have been better had we done it (surgical strikes) secretly.
The aim of any such offensive had to be not only tactical but strategic too, which substantially hampers enemy morale, he said.
Elaborating upon how the forces on the border should react to events that occur on the Line of Control (LoC), Lt Gen Hooda said, "I think the way the things are going on the LoC, we must have a pro-active and unpredictable response unless Pakistan does something to ease tensions and stop infiltrations."
