Surgical strikes: Army submits video clips to govt; PM Narendra Modi against hysteria over action

Once the Prime Minister's Office gives green signal to release the video clips, it will quash Pakistan’s claims that the surgical strikes along LoC never took place.

New Delhi: The Indian Army on Wednesday submitted video clips of surgical strikes it conducted on September 28 night along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir to the government.

Minister of State for Home Affairs Hansraj Ahir confirmed the development.

"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."

"There was a time when written documents were submitted. Now the times have changed. Now clips are given and the clips have been given," he told reporters here.

Ahir, however, did not comment if the government is planning to release the video.

Officials from the Defence Ministry, meanwhile, also said there were no discussions on releasing of the video.

The officials did not specify if a final stand on the issue has been taken.

Once the Prime Minister's Office gives green signal to release the footage, it will quash Pakistan’s claims that the strikes never took place.

The proof is also likely to end the political slugfest involving the Congress, the BJP, and the Aam Aadmi Party.

Earlier today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) to discuss the security scenario in the wake of the surgical strikes.

During the meeting, the Prime Minister is understood to have cautioned his Cabinet colleagues against creating a hysteria over the military action against terror launch pads across the LoC. He has reportedly told his ministerial colleagues that only authorised people should speak on the issue of surgical strikes and one should avoid speaking out-of-turn.

According to reports, the Army has enough proof, like video footage, photographs shot by both ground troops and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), to show the cross-border strikes were highly effective.

The BJP and experts are against disclosing details of the operation by the Special Forces.

In a related development, The Indian Express reported today that eyewitnesses from across the LoC have confirmed brief but intense firing during India's surgical strikes and how the bodies of those killed were loaded onto trucks for a secret burial.

According to the report, the eyewitnesses were contacted through their kin on the Indian side and the communication took place through a "commercially available encrypted chat system". Their accounts corroborate what India has maintained on the strikes -- which Pakistan denies.

Tensions between India and Pakistan have increased after the surgical strikes carried out on the intervening night of September 28 and 29 on terror launch pads along the LoC.

Pakistan has intensified cross-LoC firing and shelling since the surgical strikes.