Have several options including surgical strikes: Army chief warns Pakistan after Sunjuwan attack

NEW DELHI: In a stern warning for Pakistan, Army chief General Bipin Rawat said that the neighbour will have to pay for the attack on Sunjuwan military camp in Jammu, sooner or later. The Army chief said that they have many options on how to retaliate, including a surgical strike. 

"Pakistan thinks it is fighting a war that is paying them dividends but we have several options, including surgical strikes," the Army chief said in an interview to Hindustan Times. However, he did not disclose the details of the options that the forces may adopt.

On February 10, six soldiers and one civilian were killed, and 10 others injured when Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists stormed the 36 Brigade headquarters of the Army at Sunjwan in Jammu region. Four terrorists were neutralised in the retaliatory attack by the Army. 

Amid a rise in ceasefire violations along the Line of Control (LoC), General Rawat also said India will order a ceasefire when Pakistan stops sending terrorists to India. "The Indian Army will honour the ceasefire and de-escalate tensions the day Pakistan stops sending terrorists across the line of control," General Rawat said.

There have been over 800 ceasefire violations in 2017 from either side, as compared to 271 the previous year.

Earlier, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had also hit out at Pakistan over the Sunjuwan attack saying that they have will have to pay for its "misadventure". She had said that the Army had enough evidence to prove that the attack originated from Pakistan. "Intelligence inputs indicate that these terrorists were being controlled by their handlers from across the border," the Defence Minister had said. "Pakistan is expanding the arc of terror, resorting to ceasefire violations to assist infiltration. It will pay for this misadventure," she had said.