The Indian Army has denied reports of having conducted a surgical strike across the border in Pakistan on 21-22 August.
Reports said the Indian Army had refuted claims by Hindi news daily Dainik Jagran that the army entered 2-2.5 km inside Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) on Saturday night.
Rumours of Surgical Strike
Dainik Jagran carried a headline on 22 August mentioning that India had once again carried out a surgical strike on Pakistan on Saturday night.
Following this, social media was rife with news that 12 to 15 soldiers of the Indian Army had crossed the border and killed seven to eight terrorists in the action. The newspaper reported that all Indian soldiers returned safely after the mission.
As per claims that the Indian Army has reportedly dismissed, the Hindi national daily mentioned that the Indian side destroyed four launching pads of terrorists operating in Nakyal of Kotli, Jammu and Kashmir.
Infiltration Bid Foiled, Two Terrorists Killed
Hours after the report was published, Indian Defence Ministry denied the media reports of conducting the surgical strike.
Instead, it said that an infiltration bid along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district of Balakot sector was “beaten back.” Two terrorists were reportedly killed in the operation.
The Indian authorities said the security forces recovered an AK-47, two hand grenades, two magazines, Pakistani-origin medicine, and 30 rounds.
The army sprung into action after multiple intelligence agencies and police revealed the presence of terrorists waiting across the LoC to infiltrate the Indian side.
“Based on these inputs, a surveillance grid was placed on heightened alert and multiple ambushes were sited at [a] suitable location,” the army statement mentioned.
Dainik Jagran, one of the largest circulated Hindi dailies, has put out a story of “another surgical strike” on Pakistan by Indian Army.
— Prashant Kumar (@scribe_prashant) August 22, 2023
The Indian Army has DENIED the story.
Question here is how did Dainik Jagran publish a totally FICTITIOUS news item!! Shocking! pic.twitter.com/IFIdcM9gr0
The army detected two terrorists attempting to cross the LoC on Monday morning in the Hamirpur area of Balakot on account of inclement weather, dense fog, and thick foliage.
The army statement said, “As per intelligence inputs, the two terrorists who attempted to infiltrate were injured due to fire from their own troops but still managed to return across the LoC and later they succumbed to their injuries.”
The statement mentioned that Indian Army troops remained on alert and maintained vigil to foil any infiltration attempts. Additional troops were moved to the area to conduct search operations after weather conditions improved.
Surgical Strikes
Recently, Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh controversially remarked that if India did not cross the LoC during the Kargil War despite the victory, it does not meet that it could not cross it now.
In September 2016, terrorists of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed entered the army camp in Uri near the LoC and killed 20 soldiers in the attack.
India conducted a surgical strike across the LoC after the Uri terror attack in 2016, in which 19 army soldiers were killed.
Additionally, the country carried out an air strike in 2019 after 40 Indian CRPF soldiers were killed in the Pulwama terror attack. It was a pre-emptive action targeting the Jaish-e-Mohammed training camps in Balakot.
Relations between the two countries have been on a historic low ever since the Pulwama attack, for which India holds Pakistan responsible.