No 'hot pursuit' in Myanmar: MoS Defence Rao Inderjit Singh

India

oi-IANS

By Ians English

New Delhi, June 10: There was no "hot pursuit" in the military operation against militants along the India-Myanmar border and it was done with the consent of Myanmar authorities, Minister of State for Defence Rao Inderjit Singh said on Wednesday.

"We did not use hot pursuit. We contacted Burma (Myanmar) authorities before the attack," Rao Inderjit said here.

The comment comes a day after his colleague Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore said Prime Minister Narendra Modi ordered the "hot pursuit".

Rathore on Tuesday said: "Our prime minister ordered hot pursuit in which two camps were completely annihilated. While the army carried out the strike, helicopters were on stand by."

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Nitin Gadkari, a key minister in the Modi cabinet, refused to comment on the matter at a press conference following a meeting of the union cabinet.

"It is clear we have zero tolerance towards terror and terror groups. The official spokesperson of the military has given detailed information about the action that our military has done," Gadkari said.

"I do not have anything to say beyond it."

The army launched two attacks at different points along the Myanmar border and killed several militants. The exact number has not been revealed.

The attack launched on Tuesday was a response to the June 4 militant ambush that killed 18 soldiers of 6 Dogra regiment.

According to informed sources, the militant camps were situated a few kilometres inside Myanmar, something which the Indian Army or the defence ministry has not officially confirmed.

Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju, meanwhile, said the issue should not be discussed in detail.

"We must salute the work the army did... When something is done in national interest, we must support it and not discuss it in detail," he said.

IANS