PM Modi monitored surgical strike, wanted to turn off infiltration tap

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi monitored the cross-LoC strike by the Indian Army last night and approved it as India wanted to "turn off the tap of infiltration at its root" in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK) rather than wait for terrorists to cross-over amidst a steady stream of terrorists trying to infiltrate this year, top government sources told ET.

These sources said the Indian Army's surgical strike was an attack on terrorists and whom Pakistan terms as "non-state actors", and "not on the Pakistan state as such".

Pakistan should have instead co-operated in neutralising these terrorists on almost half-a-dozen launch pads inside the PoK side of the Line of Control (LoC), sources said.



Pointing to steady stream of infiltration attempts into India by terrorists before and after the Uri strike, the government sources said it was imperative that the root of this infiltration - the launch pads across the LoC - be attacked as Pakistan had so far refused to act against the same despite inputs provided by India on various occasions.

"As the Prime Minister had said earlier this week, 17 such attempts had been foiled by our security forces in the recent past but the terrorists managed to come in and attack Uri. Hence, armed with specific intelligence on the location of these launch pads, a call was taken by India to attack the centres of these terrorists. We have inflicted heavy casualties. Any Pakistani Army casualties could be due to their effort on protecting these launch pads...Pakistan should answer why its Army men were there," a senior government source said.

Some officials are also citing the example of US forces neutralising most wanted terrorist Osama Bin Laden in Abbottabad without keeping Pakistan in the loop.

"Our strike was in PoK across the LoC - PoK is considered by us as an integral part of India and even in International parlance, it is a disputed territory between India and Pakistan," the source said. Like the US in the Osama case, India also informed Pakistan of the surgical strike once the same was over - the government hence went public with the same in India too.

Pakistan has denied any surgical strikes but sources here say the same is being said as Pakistan will otherwise have a tough time explaining the presence of terrorist camps on its side of LoC. However, there is a realisation on the Indian side that there could be a retaliation from Pakistan. DGMO Lt Gen Ranbir Singh has already said that the terrorists killed by Indian Army had plans to attack Indian cities - states and metros will be cautioned towards the possibility of such attacks by terror modules ahead of the festive season.