Won't hesitate from another surgical strike if enemy challenges us: Lt Gen Anbu

“The surgical strike on militant launchpads across the border was a show of strength by our armed forces and we won't hesitate to do it again if the enemy challenges us," Vice Chief of Army Staff Lt General Devraj Anbu said.

New Delhi: Vice Chief of Army Staff Lt General Devraj Anbu has said that India won’t hesitate to carry out another surgical strike against the terrorists if a need is felt for such a move. While responding to a question of reporters, on the sidelines of the Indian Military Academy’s Passing Out Parade (POP) in Dehradun on Saturday  the Lt General said: “The surgical strike on militant launchpads across the border was a show of strength by our armed forces and we won't hesitate to do it again if the enemy challenges us." It was on September 29, 2016, when India launched surgical strike across the Line of Control following a terrorist attack on an Indian Army base in Uri sector of Jammu and Kashmir in which nineteen Indian soldiers had been martyred. On Friday, while speaking during a panel discussion on the topic 'Role of Cross-Border Operations and Surgical Strikes,' on the first day of Military Literature Festival 2018, Lt Gen (retd) D S Hooda, who was the Northern Army commander when the surgical strikes were carried out said that it was natural to have an initial euphoria over the success but the constant hype around the operation was unwarranted.. Responding to a question from the audience during a panel discussion in Chandigarh, Lt Gen Hooda said in hindsight, it would have been better had "we done it (surgical strikes) secretly".