NEW DELHI (Web Desk/Agencies) – Indian Minister of State for Information Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore has said the Indian Army’s cross border-raid in Myanmar, is a message to all countries, including Pakistan, and groups harbouring “terror intent” towards India.
The minister said: “We will strike at a place and at a time of our choosing.”
Speaking to The Indian Express, Rathore, a retired Colonel from the Army, said, “It was a much-needed decision that was taken by the Prime Minister. This decision was extremely bold in nature. And it involved our Special Forces crossing the border and going deep into another country.”
Rathore added that intelligence reports were that “there were two camps preparing another strike on India” and these two camps were geographically distant from each other. “Both camps were struck and were completely annihilated. The Special Forces returned without a single casualty,” the minister said.
Earlier, choosing #ManipurRevenge and #56inchRocks as hashtags in his tweets, Rathore confirmed the action was taken on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi s directions.
In another tweet, Rathore said, “Indian Army strikes into the heart of militants. Desh ke dushmano ko karara jawab. Kushal netritva, mazboot sarkar PM@narendramodi #56inchRocks.”
A salute to Indian Army for #ManipurRevenge strike.Massive political will displayed by our strong @PMOIndia @narendramodi @manoharparrikar
— Rajyavardhan Rathore (@Ra_THORe) June 9, 2015
The minister said that today’s action could become possible because of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visits to various countries wherein “India’s intention towards a friendly neighbourhood and commitment towards mutual development was made as evident as its zero-tolerance towards terror”. “We will not tolerate any strikes on India or Indians. We’ll always wield the initiative on either being friendly or engaging in aggressive action. We will strike at a place and at a time of our choosing,” Rathore said, underlining this as the “essence of warfare”.
Indian Army strikes into the heart of militants.देश के दुश्मनों को करारा जवाब. कुशल नेतृत्व ,मज़बूत सरकार PM @narendramodi #56inchRocks — Rajyavardhan Rathore (@Ra_THORe) June 9, 2015
Asked whether India could engage in similar surgical strikes on terror groups in Pakistan, Rathore said, “This is a message for all countries, including Pakistan, and groups harbouring terror intent towards India. A terrorist is a terrorist and has no other identity. We will strike when we want to.”
Read more: Indian separatists kill 20 soldiers in Bihar
Violating the territory of Myanmar, Indian Army launched surgical strike deep inside the country, bordering Manipur, on Tuesday morning which lasted for about 45 minutes and over 100 northeast militants may have been killed in the operation.
Six injured rebels have been in Indian custody. Myanmar has since cordoned off the area where Indian Army undertook operations against northeast insurgents.
On Nagaland border too, Army’s special forces pursued militants into Myanmar and killed 15 insurgents, the TOI reported.
The Myanmar government was informed hours after the commandos in battle fatigues had mostly completed surgical strikes against the groups which had over the past couple of weeks killed 30 Indian soldiers. The operation, conceived as retaliation as well as the declaration of Modi government’s intent to strike at terror threats across its borders, had begun at 3am but the Indian ambassador could pass on the information to Myanmar’s foreign ministry only after their offices opened at regular hours on Tuesday morning.
