New Delhi | Contradictory to the claims of the Congress party, the Indian Army today said that the first surgical strike happened in 2016 and not during the UPA rule.

Addressing media during an event, GOC-in-Chief Northern Command, Lt Gen Ranbir Singh said,” Few days ago DGMO said in a reply to an RTI that the first surgical strike happened in September 16′. Responding to the Congress party’s claim Singh said, “I don’t want to go into what political parties say, they’ll be given an answer by government. What I told you is a statement of fact.”

GOC-in-Chief Northern Command, Lt Gen Ranbir Singh: Few days ago DGMO said in a reply to an RTI that the first surgical strike happened in Sep 16', I don't want to go into what political parties say, they'll be given an answer by government.What I told you is a statement of fact. pic.twitter.com/wDULfMwEfj — ANI (@ANI) May 20, 2019

Earlier Congress leader Rajeev Shukla had claimed that India conducted “six surgical strikes” across the border into Pakistan between 2008 and 2014.

In a press conference in New Delhi, he gave the names of six dates along with places where the strikes were carried out. The first strike was conducted on June 19, 2008, in Bhattal Sector in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch. The second was conducted from August 30-September 1, 2011, in the Sharda sector across the Neelam River Valley in Kel, ANI quoted him as saying.

He said that a third surgical strike took place on January 6, 2013, at Sawan Patra checkpost; another on July 27 and July 28, 2013, at Nazapir Sector; the fifth one on August 6, 2013 at Neelam Valley; and the sixth one on January 14, 2014.

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in his interview to a publication also said, “Multiple surgical strikes took place during our tenure too. For us, military operations were meant for strategic deterrence and giving a befitting reply to anti-India forces than to be used for vote garnering exercises.”