In 1987, when Army almost broke Pakistan into four and govt said no

Over the past few days, there have been claims and counter-claims regarding surgical strikes on terror camps being nurtured and run by Pakistan. It had even become a poll issue in Gujarat with Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying, unlike his predecessor he had shown guts and ordered surgical strikes across the Line of Control.

He referred to the 26/11 attack that took place during the UPA rule and said that the government of the day had refused to act against Pakistan despite the Army and Air Force stating that they were ready.

It has often been debated why the governments have not done enough to act against Pakistan despite that nation continuing to sponsor terror against India.

Operation brasstacks:

In this context, we must take into consideration two incidents of the past when the Army said it was ready and the government refused to act.

It was the year 1987 and General Krishnaswamy Sundarji had devised Operation Brasstacks.

Air Marshal (retd) B K Pandey tells OneIndia that the General had made it appear as though he was conducting an exercise in the plains. He had two opposing forces

He made it appear as though he was conducting an exercise in the plains.

He had two opposing forces and they were moving south-north. At one stage he had weakened Amritsar to lure Pakistan into attacking Amritsar and declaring Khalistan. The whole plan was to divide Pakistan into four states. However, the Russians and Americans got wind of this and informed the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi about this. He, in turn, told the General to cool off, Air Marshal Pandey also says.

After 26/11:

Post 26/11 there was a lot of pressure on India to act against Pakistan. While it was said in various quarters that India would attack Pakistan, that was however not the case.

Top sources say that the Army and the Air Force was asked about the preparedness. Both said that they were prepared to carry out a strike in Pakistan. The officer in the know of the events at that time said, nobody, changed their mind. In fact, the government never made up its mind to go to war.

"I know the sentiment of the entire country was that of anger and disgust. The Indian Air Force was ready to strike at Pakistan. We had our contingency ready and were well prepared. However, ultimately it depends on what the government wants", he also noted. "The government was not in favour of an air strike across the border as it felt that it would escalate into a full-fledged war", he further added.

B K Pandey explains that there is a difference between striking across the Line of Control and the International Border. Striking across the LoC is fine as we are hitting at a territory that we are claiming as ours. However, a strike across the IB tends to escalate the situation into a full-blown war. Post 26/11 the government could have thought about a surgical strike at least Air Marshal Pandey further adds.

OneIndia News