No record of surgical strike before 2016: Defence Ministry

Seeking to put an end to the ongoing debate over whether the UPA government had ordered any surgical strikes, the Ministry of Defence has officially responded, saying it doesn't have any information of any such strike before September 2016.

The MoD was responding to an RTI question filed by Jammu-based activist Rohit Chaudhary, according to a media report. Chaudhary asked the MoD if there were any surgical strikes between 2004 and 2014. This came after several Congress leaders said the UPA government conducted six surgical strikes during its term.

In its reply, the MoD, through the Director General of Military Operations (DGMO), said they have records of only one strike, that was conducted in September 2016. This strike came 11 days after militants attacked an Army camp at Uri, killing 19 soldiers.

On Saturday, Gen. VK Singh, former Chief of Army Staff and BJP's Lok Sabha candidate from Ghaziabad seat, had accused the Congress of lying. "Congress has a habit of lying. Will you please let me know which surgical strikes are you attributing to during my tenure as COAS? Am sure you must have hired some Coupta to invent another story," he had said.

Singh's riposte came a day after senior Congress leader Rajiv Shukla said six strikes were done during Manmohan Singh's tenure but the government never publicised it. Later, Manmohan himself had said the government conducted multiple surgical strikes, but as "strategic deterrence, and not vote garnering exercises."