Surgical Strikes | Security czars in govt weighing options on releasing footage; discusses future strategy implications

Prime Minister Modi's message advising everyone to remain calm post the Cabinet meeting on Thursday was short and crisp. According to sources the PM said -- not everyone needs to speak on the surgical strikes, it is the Army's job and they should be allowed to handle it.

On the question of the Opposition's growing demand to release footage of the LoC strikes, sources in the defence ministry said that while footage on the Army had been submitted to the Cabinet Committee of Security, there were no discussions on releasing the footage. Sources added that the defence ministry's briefing slated for Thursday to the Parliament Standing Committee on Defence has been deferred to October 14. They added that security czars in the government were still weighing their options on releasing the footage and discussing whether it could have future strategy implications.

The government so far has chosen to not indulge in chest thumping and Pakistan-baiting on the LoC strikes. Indeed on September 29, when the Army carried out their operations, the PM's usually active Twitter handle was silent. Since then, he has neither spoken or tweeted, publicly on the issue.

Despite the Prime Minister's silence, sources say the mood in the BJP camp, post the strikes, is upbeat, and the political consensus is that the Opposition's demand for the video footage is due to a fear that the party will use the issue to maximise political gains in Punjab and UP. As a result, analysts believe, they are stepping up pressure on the government on the issue with the latter looking to take the higher moral ground.

The BJP's caution could be seen from the beginning. Instead of Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, the DGMO was sent to announce the strike to mediapersons. Even on the political front, the party has been muted in its response to the Opposition.

While Minister of State for Home Hansraj Amir said in Mumbai on Wednesday that it was for the Prime Minister to decide on whether the video footage of the strike should be made public, Kiren Rijiju also an MoS for Home, said that everyone needed to have faith in the government and allow the Army to take its own call.

"The laid down procedure has been followed. The DGMO briefed (about the surgical strikes). It was not the defence minister nor the prime minister and not the home minister. It was the DGMO who briefed (the media). That was the right thing to do and they (Army) did it," he said.

"Have faith in the government and leave it to the army," he added.

Army officials also felt the situation was best left to them. Former Army Chief General VP Malik said the demand for making the video public was "utter nonsense." He said, It is only for the Army to take a call on whether to release the video or not and when."

Another former Army chief General Joginder Jaswant Singh was quoted as saying by news agencies, that releasing the video was not in the national interest.

"It is not in national interest to put it (the video footage) in the public domain. It has never been done in the past. In fact it is not even supposed to be talked about. We must be mature enough as a country to be able to ensure that this kind of pressure is not put on government or army to produce videos."

But not everyone was on the same page. When asked, senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy said on Wednesday that he favoured putting out an edited video of the action the LoC. "I think they should edit the video of the logistics value of it and show the other part, showing explosions, the dead body... they have got in the video. So all these parts can be released," he said.

The BJP has so far ignored Swamy's remarks but has gone after the Delhi Chief Minister and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal. In a statement Kejriwal had sought proof from the government that the Indian Army had conducted the strikes.

BJP Spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao said on Wednesday, "At a time when the whole world has stopped believing Pakistan we have the spectacle of Congress, Kejriwal and other parties questioning strike carried out by our armed forces and giving a handle to Pakistan to advance its false propaganda."

Such sharp statements could not prevent Opposition parties from engaging the government on the issue. Congress spokesperson, Randeep Singh Surjewala, claimed that surgical strikes were conducted thrice when their party was in power at the Centre, but "in its maturity, wisdom and in the interest of national security, the Congress Government had avoided making loud claims."

It is believed that the Modi government does not want political escalation the issue because it is aware that such a move could backfire. With intelligence reports suggesting that 100 more terrorists are lined up to cross the LoC, the Prime Minister is clearly aware that the LoC issue is far from over.

Mehbooba Mufti meets PM Modi

Amidst the tension on the borders, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to reach out to the people of Jammu and Kashmir with "tangible" confidence building measures to address their political, economic and development concerns.

During the hour long-meeting on Wednesday, soon after the Prime Minister chaired a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), Mufti sought de-escalation of the tension saying, people in Jammu and Kashmir have been the worst sufferers of the hostility and confrontation in the region.

"Today also hundreds of families have to migrate from the border areas of the state and they suffer immense hardship because of the prevailing tense situation in the region," she said and stressed the need for reviving the peace and reconciliation process in the region.

She also discussed with the Prime Minister, the law and order situation and the situation along the borders. "The people in Kashmir have gone through enormous agony and pain and the time has come to reach out to them and apply balm to their wounds through ample initiatives at political, economic and developmental levels," she is said to have told the Prime Minister.

She asked the Prime Minister to view the current situation in the state as an opportunity to start a dialogue process with the people of Jammu and Kashmir. "I hope that the Prime Minister, who has received such a big mandate, takes this situation as an opportunity and reaches out to the people of Jammu and Kashmir by starting a productive dialogue process to end the miseries of the people in the state," she said.