Surgical strikes of 2016 and 2019: Events, claims, counter-claims

Congress veteran Digvijaya Singh on Monday (January 23) sparked controversy by questioning the veracity of the Narendra Modi government’s claims over surgical strikes by the Indian Armed Forces against Pakistan. “They talk about the surgical strike; that we killed so many people but there is no proof. They are ruling only through peddling lies,” he said.

The Federal explains what happened in the 2016 and 2019 surgical strikes — the trigger, the strikes, the claims and the counter-claims.

The 2016 strike

On September 29, 2016, the Indian government said the Airforce had conducted a surgical strike against militant launch pads across the Line of Control in Pakistan occupied Kashimir. This was in response to the attack a fortnight earlier near Uri town on an Indian Army base by Pakistan-based insurgents that killed 19 soldiers . The government claimed the surgical strike had inflicted “significant casualties”.

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However, Pakistan rejected India’s claim, saying Indian troops did not cross the LoC, and that there were just some skirmishes with Pakistani troops on the border.

Digvijaya Singh had questioned the veracity of this surgical strike in October 2016, just days after then Congress chief Sonia Gandhi had congratulated the Indian Armed Forces “on the success of the operation” and offered her party’s “support to the government in our country’s continuing battle against cross-border terrorism”.

The 2019 strike

The 2019 Balakot surgical strike has triggered more debates than the 2016 one. That India carried out surgical strikes after the 2019 terror attack at Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir is not in doubt. What has proved controversial are Indian claims about casualties and damage caused to an insurgent camp.

The Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) claimed responsibility for a suicide attack that killed more than 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel at Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir on February 14, 2019.

Twelve days later, on February 26, the Indian Air Force (IAF) carried out a surgical strike on an alleged JeM training centre located on the Jaba hilltop — about 20 km from Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Indian claims

Indian media reports attributed to government sources claimed that the JeM had a huge training camp on the hilltop, housing 200 to 300 insurgents. It was stated that a madrassa there, Taleem Quran, was run by JeM leader Masood Azhar’s brother-in-law, Muhammad Yusuf Azhar.

The Indian aircraft that flew into Pakistan, crossing the LoC, for the first time after the 1971 war, carried precision-guided munition. In the counter-attack by Pakistan, one Indian fighter jet was downed, and the pilot was taken alive. Pakistan returned him to India.

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The Indian government said it had carried out a “non-military pre-emptive strike” — meaning it was not a military attack per se but a limited operation aimed at terrorists.

Pakistan’s rebuttal

Pakistan claimed that the Indian surgical strike caused no great damage and that the bombs fell mainly in a forested area. It also said there were no casualties.

That country’s journalists and international correspondents based in Pakistan were initially prevented by authorities there from accessing a building that was on the hilltop but which seemed to have suffered no damage. That building belonged to JeM.

Subsequently, however, the Pakistanis took journalists on a guided tour and media personnel were allowed to talk to students there. Claims from India on casualty figures widely varied — from two-digit figures to three-digit ones.

Satellite imagery

Open source satellite imagery from a variety of sources, however, unanimously said that the Indian air offensive hit no significant target of consequence.

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Journalists who went to the area reported sighting craters and burnt trees in a forested area. One villager was said to have suffered minor injuries. People living in the area also told journalists that the JeM did run a big camp there earlier but it was vacated in the aftermath of the 2015 devastating earthquake in Pakistan.

Some villagers, however, said the JeM did have a camp near Balakot.

Controversy

In the final analysis, no photographic evidence was produced to show that a large number of terrorists had been killed and that terrorist infrastructure had been destroyed.

It is this fact that has led to the persistent row over the surgical strike.