Respect Rt Lt Gen Hooda's views on surgical strikes: Army Chief Bipin Rawat

NEW DELHI: A day after Retired Indian Army Lieutenant General DS Hooda claimed that there was too much hype over the 2016 surgical strikes, Chief of the Army Staff Bipin Rawat said he respects the views of the retired army commander.

“He was one of the main persons involved in conduct of these operations so I respect his words very much,” said the Army Chief, adding, “These are individual person's perceptions so let's not comment on them.” 

Responding on the incident General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GoC-in-C) of the Army's Northern Command, Lt Gen Ranbir Singh, said, “Surgical strike is one of the options available to Army. It had a positive effect on country, we’ve been able to curb terrorism to a great extent.”

Hooda on Friday claimed that there was too much hype over the 2016 surgical strikes.

“I do think there was too much hype over it (surgical strike). The strike was important and we had to do it,” said Hooda while speaking at a panel discussion on 'Role of Cross-Border Operations and Surgical Strikes' on the first day of Military Literature Festival (MLF) 2018 in Chandigarh.

“Now how much should it have been politicised, whether it was right or wrong is something that should be asked to the politicians,” he added.