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Surgical Strike

About Surgical Strike

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What is a Surgical Strike?

Surgical Strike is a military attack that is carried out to damage military targets, minimal collateral damage to the surrounding and the general public infrastructure. The aim is to eliminate the target without causing collateral damage to nearby areas and civilians.
In India, the term is associated with Indian Army’s attack on militant launch pads across the Line of Control (LoC) in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. India, on 29 September 2016, announced that it has conducted “surgical strikes” across the LoC in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir which inflicted "significant casualties". Media reports in India said the casualty figures in the attack ranged from 35 to 70. On the other side of the border, Pakistan rejected India’s claims. Pakistan claimed Indian Army troops did not cross the LoC and only had skirmishes along the border with the Pakistani troops. Pakistan also claimed that 8 Indian soldiers were killed and one was in their custody. India claimed one of its soldiers was in Pakistan’s custody but it was not linked to the surgical strike. India also denied any soldier getting killed during the operation.
 
The public announcement of the strike marked a change in India’s policy towards such attacks. The acknowledgment came amid scepticism and disputing accounts of the attack.
 

What led to the surgical strike?

On September 18, 2016, a fidayeen attack was carried out by four militants on an Indian Army base in Uri, which killed 19 Indian soldiers. India accused Pakistan-based terrorist organisation Jaish-e-Muhammad. The Uri attack came after similar attacks in Gurdaspur and Pathankot. Indian Amry said, after the Uri attack, that the Indian side has shown considerable restraint, but it reserved the right to respond "at the time and place of our own choosing".
 

The attack

11 days after the Uri attack, the Indian government announced that it has conducted a surgical strike against suspected militants across the LoC. Lt. General Ranbir Singh, Director General of Military Operations (DGMO), said it had received "very credible and specific information" about "terrorist teams" who were preparing to "carry out infiltration and conduct terrorist strikes inside Jammu and Kashmir and in various metros in other states". The Indian attack was carried out to pre-empt their infiltration plans. According to reports, the attack was ground-based and was carried out inside the 1-3 km inside the territory of Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Reports also said that the attack was carried out by 3-4 teams of 70-80 soldiers from the 4th and 9th battalions of the Parachute Regiment (Special Forces).
 
Some experts dispute whether the term surgical strike is appropriate for such types of attacks. It was also noted by many experts that similar attacks have also been carried out earlier. The difference this time was the public acknowledgment by the DGMO and the country’s top political leadership.
 
The Secretary-General of United Nations, Ban Ki-Moon, said that the UN Observer Group in Pakistan Kashmir did not directly observe any "firing across the Line of Control" relating to the incident. The Indian envoy at UN during the time, Syed Akbaruddin, dismissed Secretary General’s statement. Akbaruddin said "facts on the ground do not change whether somebody acknowledges or not."
 

Pakistan's version

Pakistan rejected India’s claims. The Pakistan Foreign Office said the claims were ‘baseless’ said it was India’s ‘deliberate’ attempt to escalate conflict.

Latest Updates on Surgical Strike

Punjab Governor Purohit on Thursday said surgical strikes should be conducted against Pakistan to teach it a lesson as he accused the neighbouring country of pushing drugs into the Indian territory

Updated On: 08 Jun 2023 | 9:04 PM IST

He further said that they speak the language of China and raise questions about the ideology of Congress

Updated On: 27 Dec 2022 | 11:31 AM IST

Pakistan on Tuesday rejected as 'baseless' the Indian stand that a Pakistani F-16 aircraft was shot down by an Indian pilot during an aerial combat in February 2019

Updated On: 23 Nov 2021 | 2:05 PM IST

Amit Shah on Thursday said surgical strike carried out by India five years ago sent a strong message to the world that no one can interfere with its borders

Updated On: 14 Oct 2021 | 6:19 PM IST

Accusing the Modi government of boasting about how Pakistan was straightened out after the surgical strike, the Sena sought to know whether it has really happened

Updated On: 03 Jan 2020 | 1:20 PM IST

Congress leader Rajiv Shukla had told reporters at an AICC briefing last week that six surgical strikes were conducted during the period of Manmohan Singh government

Updated On: 08 May 2019 | 5:16 PM IST

India conducted the surgical strike on September 29, 2016 across the Line of Control as a response to a terrorist attack on an Indian Army base in Uri sector of Jammu and Kashmir earlier that month

Updated On: 09 Dec 2018 | 2:18 PM IST

He also said "those who think of any misadventure against us should have no doubt in their minds on Pakistan's capabilities"

Updated On: 13 Oct 2018 | 11:47 PM IST

Sitharaman on Sunday said it was being celebrated as a festival to show that India won't take any attack on its troops lying down

Updated On: 01 Oct 2018 | 7:24 AM IST

On September 29, 2016, the Indian Army carried out surgical strikes on seven terrorist launch pads across the Line of Control (LoC)

Updated On: 28 Sep 2018 | 2:00 PM IST

Demonetisation and implementation of the GST were bigger "surgical strikes" than what was carried out by the Army in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, he said

Updated On: 03 Jul 2018 | 1:10 PM IST

Hooda also said they knew there would only be a "limited" kind of response from Pakistan side, if at all.

Updated On: 28 Sep 2018 | 2:00 PM IST

Several Indian TV channels on Wednesday showed video clips reportedly of the surgical strikes which were carried out on terror launch pads across the border in September 2016

Updated On: 29 Jun 2018 | 8:11 AM IST

The rebuttal from Parrikar came after Congress on Friday accused the Modi government and the BJP of politicising the surgical strikes after a video of the same was released

Updated On: 28 Jun 2018 | 4:34 PM IST

Congress also accused the government of meting out step-motherly treatment to the armed forces by not providing them with state-of-the-art equipment

Updated On: 28 Sep 2018 | 2:00 PM IST

On September 29, 2016, the Indian Army announced that it attacked terrorists' camps along the Line of Control using ground forces

Updated On: 28 Jun 2018 | 10:58 AM IST

The main component of the product is chitosan, extracted by treating the chitin shells of shrimp and other crustaceans

Updated On: 06 Mar 2018 | 5:51 PM IST

Modi also questioned Congress leaders, including its vice president Rahul Gandhi, for raising doubts over the surgical strikes.

Updated On: 28 Sep 2018 | 12:59 PM IST

Amit Shah called on Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi to respect the Army's honour

Updated On: 28 Sep 2018 | 1:02 PM IST

If on the surgical strikes anniversary, we're still arguing whether or not these happened, and not what they've achieved, it shows a shrinking of our strategic minds

Updated On: 28 Sep 2018 | 1:12 PM IST