Scale down the hype on cross-LoC action

In an ideal world, perfect balance can be maintained if India claims it has conducted what it calls a “surgical strike” on September 28-29 by crossing the Line of Control in retaliation for the September 18 Uri attack, and Pakistan says this is just not true.

In such a scenario, Pakistan need do nothing further and there will be no escalation. Indian public opinion felt vindicated with the government’s claim of a “surgical strike”, and there the matter would rest. To its own nationalist constituency the Narendra Modi government could show off with satisfaction that it delivered on its word of not tolerating terrorism, and this will give it a political boost.

But life proved to be less smooth than that. Pakistan not only insisted there was no “surgical strike”, or indeed anything out of the ordinary, it took a contingent of international journalists to the LoC. The BBC and the Washington Post, among others, reported that while the Pakistan’s generals’ version was not verifiable, the Indian claim too proved hard to determine on the basis of talking to civilians in the area.

Pakistan also cited the UN Military Observer Group for India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) to say the latter had seen no unusual activity from the Indian side. This has suddenly created a cadre of sceptics. Indians who initially accepted the government’s claims are harbouring some doubts. It’s not just Opposition personalities. Apparently, doubts are also being voiced in social media in-house groups of security officials, who are raising some technical issues.

Senior BJP figures admonished questioners by suggesting that the Indian Army should not be doubted. It seems to have escaped them that the Army’s bravery and devotion to duty is not in doubt; what is being questioned is the government’s version of the event.

The source of the trouble seems to be the official use of the dramatic expression “surgical strike”. Typically this entails penetrating deep inside hostile territory with the help of air power and neutralising installations of crucial military value in a precise manner, without hitting out widely. The September 28-29 Indian attack was anything but that. It was only a few hundred metres into the Pakistani side of the LoC — a minor retaliation at best for Uri. Army installations weren’t hit, only terrorist “launchpads”, their last mile berthing area before infiltration into Jammu and Kashmir. These are flimsy, tinny structures that can be moved or pulled down at short notice.

A “surgical strike” is too exalted — or exaggerated — a description in this context. The use of this term is clearly to gain political mileage. The UPA government had made similar raids but not crowed about it to avoid escalation. To retain credibility, the government can think to officially amend its lexicon.