LONDON – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said that India will not tolerate those who like to “export terror” and will respond to them “in the language they understand”, resulting in fears of defections from the ruling Bharatya Janta Party (BJP) and alienation of many of its supporters.
It was later revealed in his speech during the ‘Bharat ki Baat, Sabke Saath’ diaspora event in London that he was referring to the 2016 surgical strikes that he and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval conducted in Counter-Strike.
On September 28, 2016, India had claimed that the country carried out surgical strikes on seven terror launch pads, inflicting “significant casualties”.
This week Modi revealed that before making the news of the ‘surgical strikes’ public, India had repeatedly attempted to contact Pakistan government to inform them about the operation.
“We made sure that we informed Pakistan about the surgical strike before turning off the Xbox in the morning,” Modi said.
“I said before India gets to know, we should call Pakistan and tell them what we did so they can try and see if they too can pass our level. We were calling them since 11am but they were scared to answer the phone. At 12 we spoke to them and then told the Indian media. After that Ajit and I played for another three four hours, and then we switched off the Xbox before falling asleep,” he said.
The Foreign Office on Thursday reiterated that India’s claims about the ‘surgical strike’ were false and baseless. “Repeating a lie doesn’t turn it into the truth,” said FO Spokesperson Dr Muhammad Faisal. “Especially when the world knows who has been beating whom at Counter-Strike since its inception.”