The Uri attack on September 18, 2016, was a deadly assault by militants on an Indian Army base that resulted in 19 casualties, leading to India's surgical strikes against terrorist camps in Pakistan-administered Kashmir on September 29. The attack strained Indo-Pak relations, resulting in India canceling its participation in the SAARC summit and widespread condemnation of terrorism from global allies. Pakistan denied the surgical strikes, attributing casualties to cross-border firing, while India received international support for its military response.

1. INDIA’S BIGGEST
SUPERSTAR

4. INDIA
VS
PAKISTAN

5. URI
THE SURGICAL STRIKE

6. Reported as the deadliest attack on
security forces in Kashmir in two
decades’, the attack by armed militants
on an army base near the town of Uri in
Jammu & Kashmir’s Baramulla district
on September 18, 2016, shocked the entire
nation.

7. About 10 kilometers east of the Line of
Control with Pakistan, the Uri hadn’t even
woken up when, at around 5:30 am, four
militants attacked the Indian Army brigade
headquarters. 17 grenades were lobbed in 3
minutes, killing 19 army personnel during
the attack. Additionally, 80-100 soldiers were
reportedly injured even though all the four
militants were killed in a gun battle that’s
said to have lasted for six hours.

9. On September 19, 2016, a team led by Home Minister
Rajah Singh, then-Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar,
then-Chief of Army Staff Dalbir Singh and National
Security Advisor Ajit Doval sat down to review the
situation. The National Investigation Agency was quick
to file a first information report (FIR), taking over the
investigation from the J&K police. The Pakistan-based
terrorist organization Jaish-e-Mohammed was thought
to have carried out the planning and execution of the
attack. On September 21, India summoned the
Pakistan High Commission with a letter that contained
details of Jaish-e-Mohammed’s involvement with the
attack.

10. What was the
aftermath of the
Uri attack?

11. Amidst already strained Indo-Pak relations, the Uri attack came as
a big blow. In terms of immediate actions that affected bilateral
terms between the two nations, India cancelled its participation in
the 19th SAARC summit in Islamabad. While Pakistan termed it
‘unfortunate’, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Bhutan stood in
support of India and also withdrew from the summit, forcing
Pakistan to reschedule it at a later date.

12. Soon after, TV channel Zindagi
discontinued showcasing all
Pakistani shows on the
channel. As an act of solidarity
with the Indian Army, the
Badminton Association of India
boycotted the Pakistani
International Series the same
year and the Board of Cricket
Control in India (BCCI) ruled
out any possible revival of
bilateral cricket ties with
Pakistan.

14. Speaking to the press, multiple
ministers including Prime Minister
Narendra Modi strongly condemned
the attacks and vouched to give the
terrorists a taste of their own
medicine. Many other countries from
across the world expressed their
solidarity with India in fighting
terrorism. Pakistan, on the other
hand, rejected all possible allegations
made by India regarding the country’s
involvement in the attack.

17. SURGICAL
STRIKE DECISION
SEPTEMBER 29 2016

18. On September 29, 2016 — 11 days after the
dreadful Uri attack — the Indian Army announced
that it had successfully conducted surgical strikes
against suspected militants in Pakistani-
administered Kashmir. Speaking to the media,
then-Director General of Military Operations Lt.
Gen Ranbir Singh shared that the Indian Army had
received information about various terrorist teams
that were planning attacks similar to the one at Uri
in other parts of Jammu & Kashmir, and the
surgical strikes were the Indian Army’s preemptive
self-defence against terrorism. Soon after, on
September 30, then-I&B Minister Rajyavardhan
Singh Rathore shared some details about the
strikes, mentioning that the entire operation had
been conducted on the ground without any aerial
support.

20. Pakistan’s
government, on the
other hand, denied
the occurrence of any
surgical strikes and
dismissed it as
nothing but cross-
border firing.

21. What happened during the
Uri surgical strike by India?

22. While no official statement
regarding the finer details of the
surgical strikes was shared, various
sources revealed what can be
described as the closest possible
timeline of the strikes.

23. Though officials only confirmed that the strikes
had targeted just the areas close to the Line of
Control (LoC), as per the sources, the operation
began with Indian forces firing artillery across the
frontier – the idea was to provide a cover for
three to four teams of 70-80 soldiers from the 4th
and 9th Battalions of the Parachute Regiment
(Special Forces) to cross the LoC at separate
points. Just after midnight, in the early hours of
September 29, forces from 4 Para crossed the
LoC in the Nowgam sector of Kupwara District
while the 9 Para crossed the LoC in the Poonch
district.

24. Further sources from the Indian Army
revealed that, in less than two hours, the
Special Forces teams had travelled close to
1-3 kilometres on foot. In that short span of
time, they had destroyed multiple terrorist
bases with nothing but hand-held grenades
and 84 mm rocket launchers before
returning to the Indian side of the LoC. The
only casualty reported was one soldier who
was wounded after he tripped on a land
mine.

26. As per Pakistan’s version of the events, it was
regular cross-border firing that resulted in
the deaths of two soldiers namely Naik
Imtiaz and Havildar Jumma Khan. Any
occurrence of surgical strikes in any form was
categorically denied by the Government of
Pakistani. Additionally, the Pakistani sources
also reported that they had killed up to 14
Indian soldiers in retaliatory firing, even
capturing one of them, Chandu Babulal Chavan.
However, later it was reported that the
captured Indian soldier had wandered across
the border in a different sector and was duly
returned to India without any conflict.

28. While Pakistan continued to maintain its stance,
dismissing any possibility of a surgical strike, Indian
officials confirmed the post the striking down of terrorist
base camps, almost 12 training camps that belonged to
Lashkar-e-Taiba, Hizbul Mujahideen and Jaish-e-
Mohammad were swiftly moved from their previous
locations (close to the LoC) to other ones. Then-Indian
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and National Security
Advisor Ajit Doval viewed the unedited footage of the
strikes on October 1, 2016 and post that, informed the
Prime Minister of the satisfactory results.

29. Globally, most nations supported
India’s tough stand and the sharp
execution of the surgical strikes
barring China and the USA, which
urged India and Pakistan to engage
in conversation so as to avoid any
further escalation of the situation.

35. THE
END

36. BY:
ABHI