Army to brief House panel on strikes

A soldier stands guard outside army headquarters in Srinagar on Thursday. (AFP)

SUJAN DUTTA, TT, New Delhi, Oct. 7: The army will brief a parliamentary committee on the surgical strikes along the Line of Control next week but it will not share footage or visual evidence that may compromise operational details.

The parliamentary standing committee on the ministry of defence comprising 21 Lok Sabha and 10 Rajya Sabha members, chaired by Major General (retired) B.C. Khanduri of the BJP, is scheduled to be briefed on the operation on October 14, defence ministry sources said.

The committee includes Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Amarinder Singh and Ambika Soni of the Congress, Subramaniam Swamy and Murli Manohar Joshi of the BJP, Dev of the Trinamul Congress and former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda of the JDS.

Sources in the military said it was not yet time to disclose visual evidence that could give out operational tactics. They said the operation in the early hours of October 29 comprised a series of actions across a frontage of about 200km.

The actions were coordinated and the timing was carefully chosen - four hours after 12.30 in the night. The Special Forces of the army that carried out the actions backed by assault teams of infantry battalions were specially kitted out, for example. The army does not want the kits to be identified. The kits would include weapons and communication sets.

One source suggested that a "dense EW (electronic warfare) environment" was created along the entire frontage. The army is aware that Pakistani forces tap into electronic communication on the Indian side just as the Indian forces tap into radio chatter in PoK. Indian forces on the LoC also have their own dedicated communication equipment that has been chosen specifically for the demands of maintaining the security grid in the tough terrain. The army's communication network carries both voice and data. Its frequency is an operational secret.

Electronic warfare involves not only listening in on radio chatter but also jamming the adversary's communication network. This is done mostly by using more power to transmit on the adversary's frequencies.

Video footage of the surgical strikes would contain noise and voice that lend themselves to dissection for gathering intelligence.

The insertion of SFs, particularly in a series of actions at the same time, would also involve ruse and diversionary fire, one officer explained. When the India-Pakistan current scenario is one that is described as "no war, no peace" the forces assume that they are in operations. Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha described the situation as "live" this week.

The footage that was taken with multiple infrared cameras to capture images in the dark also risked disclosing the visual capabilities of special forces if it was made public right now.

The army had pointed this out to the government but had said it was the Centre's call. On Thursday, defence minister Manohar Parrikar said at separate political rallies in Agra and Lucknow that the government will not share the evidence of the surgical strikes.