Surgical strikes manifest 'face of new India': Rathore

The 2016 surgical strikes manifest the "the face of new India" as the country is willing to cross all limits to protect itself, Union minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore said Friday on the eve of the military action's second anniversary.

The Information and Broadcasting Minister, while speaking on the sidelines of an event here, said there was a need for creating a situation in which many young people and citizens are aligned with what the military is doing.

"India is a country which has never attacked any other country. This is our strength, not our weakness. The Indian military, be it on snow-clad mountains, in seas, or in air, they keep us safe and they sacrifice, even laying down their lives.

"We remember all the soldiers and officials of the Indian military, and we salute them," Rathore said.

Noting that the second anniversary of the surgical strikes is being marked as 'Parakarm Parv', Rathore recalled that two years ago, India's brave soldiers had taken revenge for terrorism inflicted on the country by going to enemy hideouts and destroying them.

"This is the face of 'new India' as the country is willing to cross all limits to protect itself," he said.

Asked why the anniversary was being celebrated on a large scale, he said, "Doesn't (it) come as a surprise that none of the military valour has ever been celebrated... We need to create such a situation that many more young people and citizens of the country are aligned with what the military is doing because they sacrifice their lives for us," he said.

On September 29, 2016, the Indian Army carried out surgical strikes on seven terrorist launch pads in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir as a response to an attack on its base in Uri earlier that month.

The Army had said its special forces inflicted "significant casualties" on terrorists waiting there to cross into Indian territory.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced last week that various events will be held from September 28 to 30 to commemorate the valour of soldiers.