Defence minister Manohar Parrikar had trashed claims of such operations under the UPA, provoking a counter offensive from the Congress, which accused him of ‘blatant politicisation’ of the issue. Photo: Abhijit Bhatlekar/MintPanaji: Faced with a barrage of criticism from various quarters over his statements on cross-LoC strikes by the Army, defence minister Manohar Parrikar on Sunday said he has stopped using the word “strike”. I have already stopped using the word strike,” Parrikar, who was in his home state of Goa, said during the inauguration of a helicopter engines maintenance unit in Sattari tehsil. On 17 October, Parrikar had appeared to give credit to “RSS teaching” for the decision to launch cross-LoC surgical strikes even as he slammed those seeking proof for the Army’s anti-terror operation. The surgical strikes were carried out on seven terror launch pads across the LoC with the Army inflicting “significant casualties” on terrorists preparing to infiltrate from PoK.

Source: Mint October 23, 2016 13:30 UTC