NO NEED TO PROVE THAT SURGICAL STRIKES HAPPENED – DEFENCE MINISTER MANOHAR PARRIKAR

A week after India attacked terrorists with raids across the Line of Control, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar stated that there is no reason for the government to share proof of the action, as demanded controversially by the opposition. “It was a 100% perfect surgical strike,” said Mr. Parrikar about the cross-Line of Control raids, claiming, “even when bigger nations do surgical strikes, they are not as successful.” Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently went ahead to warn the ministers that there must be no “chest thumping” about the military action and urged them not to speak out of turn.

Refuting criticism from political opponents of trying to gain political mileage from the army’s operation, Mr. Parrikar said that any felicitation is not aimed at him but at the army and the “leadership of the Prime Minister.” He also said, “Someone said that I am straight-forward. I think the Defence Minister should not be straight when it comes to ensuring the safety of the country. “In matters of the country’s defence, I can think tedha (wily),” he asserted.

Mr Parrikar also said that there is no need for evidence of soldiers venturing across the Line of Control. The army has spoken of “significant casualties” inflicted on the seven terrorist staging areas that were hit. On Dussehra, PM Modi will break with tradition by participating in celebrations not at Delhi’s famous Ramlila grounds, but in Lucknow, where he will set fire to a massive Ravan effigy symbolising the “demon of terror”.