NEW DELHI: The government’s post event handling of the strike on militant camps in Myanmar has come under criticism from the military community as well as operators on the ground, with a view emerging that further operations could be jeopardised due to excessive chest thumping and open statements by ministers scampering to gain political mileage.Several top retired officers, serving generals and strategic thinkers ET spoke to conceded that while the strike itself was laudable and executed with perfection — as has been done several times in the past — the excessive hype created could be counterproductive to further operations in Myanmar. Also, the extent of information shared —mostly by over eager bureaucrats and often in contradiction to the ground claims of the Army — is an exception from the norm where such operations are kept under tight wraps and bare minimum details shared.“I am absolutely & totally amazed at the manner in which the recent crossborder Special Operation is being bandied, being commented upon & being publicised! If indeed, it was meant to be a clandestine behind-theenemy-lines Special Operation, I am shocked that detailed information about the planners, their movements, the plan itself & the execution parameters of the Heliborne Special Ops are being flashed,” former Air Chief FH Major told ET.While lauding the military operation and the will of the government to strike back, Major said “normally, any such operation is planned and executed on a very strict ‘need to know’ basis — and the planning and execution parameters are never discussed outside a close planning group.”Within the Army, strict instructions have been passed to units and officers to clamp down on information related to the operation after a few photographs purportedly of the participating soldiers did the rounds in social media. While the army is refusing any comments barring the statement made on Tuesday that did not give any specifics, information and details have kept on tricking in, largely from officials involved in internal security.Counter insurgency expert and Research Fellow at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses , Col Vivek Chadha , told ET, “The entire establishment and media have gone overboard to give their versions of the story which is likely to create more harm than good to the overall effort.” He said “systematic leakage of information is unparalleled in the history of counter-insurgency operations”.“By going a little over board in their comments India also seems to have pushed Myanmar into a corner and somewhat forced them to issue a contradictory statement, and this does not augur well for further counterterrorism cooperation with Myanmar,” a senior army official in the Eastern Sector told ET.The comments, military leaders who have directed and executed counter insurgency and cross border operations say, could be an embarrassment for the Myanmar government that has been cooperating in such strikes in the past.“The whole publicity, specially the statements by Rathore are ridiculous and juvenile. This will come back to haunt us. The Myanmar government has been embarrassed with the details getting out and the fact is after their cooperation with us that extends back many years, it is not warranted. They will have serious objections,” former Northern Army Commander Lt Gen HS Panag told ET.