Unclear if Operation Ginger was surgical strike or ambush: Defence expert

Defence expert Major General (Retired) R.K. Arora on Sunday said it is still unclear whether Operation Ginger, which was carried out in 2011, was an operational strike or simple ambush.

"Operation Ginger in 2011 was carried out in retaliation to the beheading of the Indian soldiers but the fact remains that you could call it as shallow raid or an ambush on the enemy's post... Our raiding party would ambush those jawans and give it back to them in revenge for the beheading of Indian soldiers," Major General (Retired) Arora said.

"Local border actions, patrolling, ambushes and small level raids they keep happening on the LoC but now the term surgical strikes is applied to the raids of 28-29 September, it has taken a different meaning," he added.

"Before this I would have called a surgical strike would mean carrying out an aerial strike with fighters using precision weapons. By hitting targets, damaging them and remaining at a stand-off distance and not suffering any causalities. So, this has been carried out by land route infiltration by para commandos achieving the same result as an aerial strike would have achieved. The use of this terminology has changed over last 15 days," Major General (Retired) Arora told ANI

A national daily on Sunday reported that the Indian Army had carried out surgical strikes across the LoC in 2011 in retaliation to a surprise attack on an army post in Gugaldhar ridge in Kupwara in July that year that killed six soldiers. The brutality of this attack was particularly severe as the Pakistani raiders had carried back the heads of two soldiers.

After carrying out a detailed operation, the Indian Army struck three Pakistani Army posts on August 30.