Though our brave officer from the Indian Air Force, WC Abhinandan Varthaman returned safe and sound, the game is far from over. Given the nature of Pakistan, India has refused to let their guard down and is ensuring all efforts in order to be battle ready.
In this process, the Indian Navy has switched its gears to an aggressive mode and has deployed INS Kalvari, a Scorpene class submarine. This has been done so in order to counter any kind of terror attack that Pakistan may launch in retribution to the air strikes executed by a special squadron of IAF fighter jets on 26 February. According to some of the officials, the next few days will be extremely crucial, and India will respond sharply to any kind of aggression against their territory, thus preserving their right to act against terrorist camps.
With the deployment of a submarine, the Indian Navy has been mobilized according to the current situation. Even though the officer in charge, Rear Admiral DS Gujral, said that the Navy is “deployed in high state of readiness and remains poised in all the three dimensions — on surface, under sea and in air”, it has been ascertained that all operational platforms have been at sea and were ordered to be on full standby. Apart from submarine deployment, it has also been reported that limited movement by Indian Army troops has been initiated in order to fully secure the international borders in the state of Jammu & Kashmir & Ladakh.
For those unaware, a large CRPF convoy was attacked by a suicide bomber, who was a Jaish-e-Mohammed recruit on the occasion of Valentine’s Day at Pulwama. The suicide explosion killed 40 CRPF personnel and injured several others. Further casualties increased when the local masterminds behind the attack were killed in an encounter, resulting in the death of Major VS Dhoundiyal and 4 other soldiers from the Indian Army.
It was in this respect that the squadron of fighter jets had taken off from several IAF airbases, destroying the terror camps and control rooms of Jaish-e-Mohammed, apart from that of Lashkar-e-Toiba and Hizbul Mujahideen. The terror camps were situated in Balakot, Chakoti and Muzaffarabad, and approximately 250-350 terrorists have been killed in the respective terror camps in the strike that lasted for a total of 21 minutes.
Also, by the current movements, it seems that the Indian Navy is all set for some stern action on the lines of Operation Talwar. Executed in 1999, this was an official naval blockade launched by the Indian Navy against their Pakistani counterparts, which was initiated in order to prevent the skirmishes in the Kargil sector from blowing into a full scale, official war. By being battle ready, the Indian Navy is pulling out all stops to ensure that Pakistan does not even dare to launch a devastating attack against the innocent Indian citizens in ‘retribution’ for the alleged humiliation they suffered at the hands of the Indian forces.