Jalandhar, December 8

The 2016 surgical strikes were a successful tactical operation which conveyed a clear message to Pakistan to stop any misadventure along the LoC, Army’s Northern Command Chief Lt Gen Ranbir Singh told mediapersons here on the sidelines of his visit to Kapurthala Sainik School, his alma mater, on Saturday.

His comments came a day after Lt Gen DS Hooda (retd), who was associated with the operation, said it was natural to have initial euphoria over the success, but the constant hype around the surgical strikes was unwarranted.

Lt Gen Ranbir Singh said all actions by the Army along the LoC were carried out in an extremely professional manner to meet the national aspirations and achieve military objectives.

However, he said, “As far as politicisation of the surgical strikes is concerned, I would not like to comment. That is in political domain.”

On whether the country could carry out surgical strikes again to counter the spate of recent infiltrations, he said there were many other options to check infiltration of terrorists. Surgical strike was only one of the options.

On possible attempts to revive militancy in Punjab, Lt Gen Singh said Pakistan was trying to extend the “arc of terrorism” beyond Kashmir and the Army was taking measures to arrest the spread. — TNS