Gen Dalbir Singh recalls surgical strike; appreciates PM Modi for bold decision

On the first anniversary of surgical strike, former Army Chief Gen Dalbir Singh on Friday recalled the operation conducted by Indian Army along Line of Control.  The former Army General said that the surgical strikes boosted the national pride and image of country internationally.

Singh appreciated Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cooperation during surgical strike. He said that it was bold decision of PM Modi to approve surgical strike.

"In Jun 2015 we conducted strikes in Myanmar and again in Sept '16 we conducted surgical strikes in Pakistan. Both strikes were very successful, without any casualties to our people. It was bold decision of PM to approve surgical strikes," said General Dalbir Singh.

"With these surgical strikes national pride as well as image of the nation, nationally and internationally, has gone up manifold," said General Dalbir Singh.

Former Army Chief said that the impact of such strikes is deterrence and in last one year we have not had any major incident.

Singh said after the Army conducted surgical strikes in Myanmar, he had decided that the forces will retaliate in a similar way if there was any such attack in future.

“What we did in Myanmar...it was decided that if any such major incident (like the killing of soldiers in Manipur) takes place in future, I did not have any doubt that we had to undertake such an exercise. We started a lot of preparations after the Myanmar strike. And we got a lot of time in training to ensure success,” Singh said.

When asked whether he believes that India could have a policy against terrorists hiding at all locations where the armed forces can go, Singh said it is a political decision which the government has to take.

With PTI inputs