On 29 September 2016, India announced that it conducted surgical strikes against militant launch pads across the Line of Control (LOC) in Pakistani-administered Kashmir and inflicted “significant casualties”. Pakistan rejected India’s claim and instead claimed that Indian troops did not cross the Line of Control and only had skirmishes with Pakistani troops at the border.
Today, Pravin Sawhney, a former Indian Army officer and an editor of FORCE (a magazine on security and defence) tweeted that there was nothing called surgical strikes done in Sept 2016. They held these strikes under coordination & shallow Counter-terrorism Operations (CT ops) across the LOC done for electoral gain. ‘Nothing much for any professional Army to crow about’, he mentions. Furthermore, he stated that what General Ranbir Singh, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Northern Command of the Indian Army, confirmed the surgical strikes and informed Pakistan, ‘they were over’ was false as he feared retaliation. Earlier, he also wrote in the magazine that ‘It’s time India moves beyond the so-called surgical strikes.’