Indian Politics & Policy Volume 1, Number 2, Fall 2018 | Page 51

Indian Politics & Policy
166 TNN, “Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif Threatens to Unleash Nukes
Against India,” Times of India, September 29, 2016.
167 Gupta, “Mission LOC”; Nitin A. Gokhale, “The Inside Story of India’s 2016 ‘Surgical Strikes’,”
The Diplomat, September 23, 2017.
168 “Transcript of Joint Briefing by MEA and MoD,” Ministry of External Affairs, Government of
India, New Delhi, September 29, 2016.
169 The remainder of this paragraph synthesizes the reporting of reputable journalists and media
outlets, which are cited below. Precise details of the Indian assault remain scanty.
170 Gowen, “India’s ‘Surgical Strike’”; Gupta, “Mission LOC”; Suhasini Haidar and Kallol
Bhattacherjee, “Target Terror: India Strikes across LOC,” The Hindu, September 29, 2016;
Niharika Mandhana, “India Says It Hit Terrorist Bases in Pakistan-Controlled Kashmir,”
Wall Street Journal, September 29, 2016; Manu Pubby, “Army’s Daring Surgical Strike Marks
Radical Change in India’s Pakistan Policy,” Economic Times, October 3, 2016; “Reversing
Roles,” Economist, October 8, 2016; Sushant Singh, “Inside the Surgical Strike,” Indian Express,
October 1, 2016.
171 See, for example, Gowen, “India’s ‘Surgical Strike’” and Pubby, “Army’s Daring Surgical Strike.”
172 “Congress Releases Dates of Cross-LOC Attacks during UPA Regime,” Hindustan Times,
October 5, 2016; Shashank Joshi, “The Line of (Out of) Control,” October 4, 2016, https://
shashankjoshi.wordpress.com/2016/10/04/the-line-of-out-of-control/; Siddarth Varadarajan,
“Indian Surgical Strikes against Terrorists in Pakistan: What We Know, What We Don’t Know,”
The Wire, September 29, 2016.
173 Manoj Joshi, “Uri Aftermath: Retaliation, With De-Escalation Built In,” The Wire, September
29, 2016. See also: C. Raja Mohan, “Breaking Out of the Box,” Indian Express, October 3, 2016.
174 One very experienced Indian defense correspondent argues that Modi “chose strikes across the
LOC as these had been carried out before and the two armies had dealt with such situations
without escalating things further.” Raj Chengappa, “Game Changer,” India Today, October 6,
2016.
175 Mandhana, “India Says It Hit Terrorist Bases.” One “senior Pakistani security official” did take
the opportunity to warn that if India were to initiate a war, Pakistan “could use tactical nuclear
weapons.” Ellen Barry and Salman Masood, “India Claims ‘Surgical Strikes’ across Line of
Control in Kashmir,” New York Times, September 29, 2016.
176 “Statement by NSC Spokesperson Ned Price on National Security Advisor Susan E. Rice’s
Call with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval of India,” The White House, Washington, DC,
September 28, 2016. Barry and Masood, “India Claims ‘Surgical Strikes’ across Line of Control
in Kashmir.”
177 “India Strikes Back, Carries Out Surgical Strikes on Terror Launch Pads at LOC,” Times of
India, September 29, 2016.
178 Pubby, “Army’s Daring Surgical Strike.”
179 ANI, “Aftermath of India’s Surgical Strikes in POK,” Business Standard, October 5, 2016.
180 “Indian and Pakistani Troops Exchange Fire in Kashmir,” Associated Press, October 3, 2016.
181 Samanth Subramaniam, “What Actually Happened in Kashmir,” The Atlantic, October 6, 2016.
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