Intrigue and deceit in a military operation are nothing new under the sun, and history is full of instances where the enemy was caught with its pants down and eliminated. The surgical strikes conducted by Indian Special Forces was the outcome of careful planning and moves which were designed to bluff the Pakistanis into believing that India was planning aerial strikes after the Uri attacks.
Deception was at the core of this operation to conduct military strikes with precision, cause maximum casualties and retreat with minimum loss. The preface of the operation was laid when India aggressively started diplomatic moves to isolate Pakistan and move the air force and military in a formation which suggested that India will go for an aerial strike today or tomorrow.
The Economic Times reports that the foundation of this operation was started when India refused to attend the SAARC summit and also threatened to revisit the Indus Water Treaty. Pakistan was smug in its belief that India will not go for any major military strike and exercise restraint as before.
On the army side, Pakistan was made to believe that India was preparing for aerial attacks and to confirm these started major military movements in Jammu and Kashmir and restarted aggressive border patrols by the air force. Pakistan quickly began countermeasures and stopped civilian flights over POK and Gilgit –Baltistan. The troop movements in Jammu and Kashmir proved to be the final straw, and by now Pakistan was dead sure that aerial strikes are just round the corner.
Having diverted the attention of the enemy, Indian Special Forces who were training for this mission for days, quietly slipped into POK. After identifying the targets they carefully chalked their attack and let out the devastating fire on terror. The enemy had no chance of surviving this blitzkrieg. After completing the mission, the teams quietly returned to their bases without suffering a single casualty. Uri attack was successfully avenged, and a hefty price was extracted from the enemy.