'During surgical strikes, India was ready for any escalation from Pakistan'
July 01, 2018  17:35
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The Indian side was prepared for escalation -- in case Pakistan chose to do so -- while conceiving and executing the 2016 surgical strikes by crossing the Line of Control along the Jammu and Kashmir border, according to the army general who oversaw the strikes.

"We had sort of war-gamed all the contingencies of what could be the impact of the surgical strike. And one of the things that we did consider was that in case Pakistan decides to escalate, then what do we have to do," Lt General Deependra Singh Hooda (retd), who planned and oversaw the execution of the operation as the General Officer Commanding of the Northern Command.

"And we had put plans in place of what is to be done in various areas. I can't go into details, but definitely it was something that we considered," he added.

Hooda also said they knew there would only be a "limited" kind of response from Pakistan side, if at all.

"I was clear in my mind that the surgical strike was not going to lead to something like an all-out war between the two countries. That wouldn't have happened because Pakistan military's capabilities in that sense are limited. So I am not sure they would have decided to escalate to that extent," Hooda said.

"But, yes, some local border incidents, in a kind of escalation, was something that we had in our mind," he added.

Hooda said that this was not the first time that such a cross-LoC operation was done -- in fact such things go on a "fairly regular basis" in a limited manner -- but the surgical strike of 2016 was different from earlier similar operations primarily in two ways.
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