Pakistan raising doubts over the operation

‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’

NEW DELHI: The government is likely to take a decision soon on releasing “clinching evidence” of the surgical strikes carried out by the Army on terror launchpads based in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir , amid indications that the Army has shared footage of the same with the government.Indicating that the government was considering putting portions of the footage in the public domain, home minister Rajnath Singh , when asked on Sunday aboutin view of absence of any footage, said, “Just wait and watch.”Singh was interacting with the media on the sidelines of an event to mark theon Sunday. He congratulated the Army for having displayed its valour by carrying out surgical strikes against launch pads across the LoC.“The country as well as the whole world is aware of this (surgical strikes)... the way our jawans displayed valour has made India proud,” Singh said.Sources close to the home minister said the Army had recorded the surgical strikes using helmet-mounted cameras but a decision on making the footage public would be taken by the political leadership in a couple of days. “The political leadership, in consultation with the Army and security brass, is likely to examine whether the evidence should be released and, if yes, to what extent,” an officer said.The officer said though the government leadership was initially disinclined to make the footage public, with Pakistan going to absurd lengths to deny the surgical strikes and label them as a “white lie”, there is now a view that Islamabad should be “exposed” by bringing out the video evidence.Incidentally, the home minister will be in Ladakh for the next two days. Consultations on releasing footage of the surgical strikes may be held only after he is back.On Friday, the Army had rubbished media reports in Pakistan about Indian casualties during the operation in which around seven terror launch pads across the LoC were targeted.The Army had also said some Pakistani TV channels were indulging in “black propaganda” by showing “morphed” video clips depicting casualties on the Indian side. Pakistan has denied that the Indian Army carried out any surgical strikes in POK and claimed that it was just a case of cross-border firing from Indian posts. In fact, Pakistan army on Saturday even flew local and international media to the LoC to “prove” that India did not carry out any strikes.