Indian politicians unconvinced over surgical strike claim

The government of India had on Thursday convened an All-Parties Conference to take in confidence the opposition parties over the strikes. However, they were left disappointed when no evidence was presented about the circumstances in which the strikes took places, and or whether they were provoked from across the border.

Instead they were shown a press briefing by Indian DGMO Ranbir Singh who claimed that the Indian Army had conducted surgical strikes on ‘terror launch pads’ at the LoC last night. The press conference was jointly conducted by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Defence.

Indian opposition leader Sitaram Yechury of the Communist Party of India – Marxist (CPI-M) was disappointed over the briefing and said that they were informed about the operations which ended early morning, but it was not known what was inside them. He expressed hope that the government of India will continue with the diplomatic and political moves to diffuse the tensions.

The briefing was also attended by Indian Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad who had on Tuesday criticised the unstable policies of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Pakistan. He had said that bilateral relations have many others things attached to them and the Indian government cannot take decisions in seconds on issues which have been there for decades.

This has also raise a debate about the definition of surgical which Pakistan claims was unprovoked firing from across the border involving small arms, while Indian perspective is that a surgical strike is a military operations short of an act of war.

The claims have been refuted by Pakistan who have called them as “falsified, concocted, and irresponsible” which are intended to escalate the fragile security situation in the region. DG ISPR General Asim Bajwa had said that they terms were used to divert attention and convince the people in India.

Indian politicians question ‘surgical strike… by arynews