Surgical strikes aimed at foiling Pakistan-sponsored terrorism, says Naidu

Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting, M. Venkaiah Naidu on Thursday said the surgical strikes carried out by the Indian Army on terror launch pads across the Line of Control (LoC) last night were aimed at foiling attempts of Pakistan and abet terrorism against India.

"This operation was made in order to foil attempts of our neighbour, because our neighbour has been aiding, abetting and funding terrorists for long. This is the response to what they have done in recent days and what they were planning to do in the future also," Naidu said after attending an all meeting organised by the Centre to explain the surgical strike in detail.

"Now, Pakistan will know that we will not tolerate these kinds of incidents in the future," he added.

Naidu said the army carried out the surgical strikes on the bass of intelligence inputs.

The all party meeting took place at the Home Ministry and was headed by Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

External Affairs Sushma Swaraj, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Congress President Sonia Gandhi, besides leaders of other parties was also present.

Lt. Gen. Ranbir Singh, Director General of Military Operations (DGMO), earlier today said that the Indian Army conducted surgical strikes on seven terrorist launch pads across the Line of Control (LoC), which was ready to carry out terrorists strikes in Jammu and Kashmir and various other metros in our country around midnight.

Singh said that the operation of the Indian Army was basically focussed to ensure that the terrorists do not succeed in their design of infiltration and carry out destruction endangering the lives of citizens of the nation.

Singh further said that he spoke with the Pakistani DGMO and expressed New Delhi's concern and meanwhile, shared information over the operation conducted by the Indian Army.

Elucidating the involvement of Pakistan in the recent infiltration bids and terrorist strikes the Indian DGMO said that the captured terrorists have confessed that they were trained by the Asian neighbour.