Photos of soldiers from Myanmar op going viral a blunder: Colonel K D Pathak (retd)

CHANDIGARH: One of the founders of India's special forces, Colonel K D Pathak (retd) is proud the Army hit insurgent camps in Myanmar after they killed 18 Indian soldiers. But he strongly disapproves of photographs of the soldiers from the unit that carried out the surgical strike going viral on social media.

"Revealing the identity of commandos on social networking sites is a big blunder," Colonel Pathak said. "No professional army in the world would commit such a mistake. Damage has been done and an inquiry has to be conducted."

The 77-year-old veteran participated in Operation 'Mandhol,' among the first commando raids executed by special forces during the 1971 Indo-Pak war, and has the rare distinction of raising Special Security Group (SSG) and a special unit called `Hijack Busters' of the NSG.

Sources later confirmed that the commanding officer (CO) of the 21-Special Forces unit, which carried out the operation, has issued directions not to broadcast the pictures after various Facebook and Twitter groups shared the photographs of the commandos flashing the victory sign.