 "Khurshid corners govt, backs Chidambaram's assertion on Operation Ginger")
In the wake of the escalation of a war of words between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress following a revelation that the Indian Army had conducted a surgical strike on Pakistani military outposts earlier in 2011, former external affairs minister Salman Khurshid on Monday said his former cabinet colleague P Chidambaram made this disclosure to put the record straight as the incumbent regime was trying to create an impression that the UPA did nothing in its tenure.
"This has been said very categorically by former home minister P Chidambaram and it's also been validated and repeated by other people. This has been said only for this purpose that an impression was being created by the government of the day that we never did anything when we were in power, I think that was unfair," Khurshid said.
"And just to put the record straight, Mr Chidambaram and others have put this out in the public domain and I am glad it is being done," he added.
Stating that it would be unfair to discuss this matter any further, Khurshid said, "Since we have said that these are operational details that we don't discuss, we only credit the army and give the army the opportunity to take whatever steps are to be taken whether it was then or now, we will leave it at that."
According to reports, the Indian Army had carried out surgical strikes across the LoC in 2011 in retaliation to a surprise attack on an army post in Gugaldhar ridge in Kupwara in July that year which led to the death of 13 soldiers and beheading of six of them.
In revenge, the Indian Army planned Operation Ginger.