Parrikar claims leaked surgical strike footage not released by govt

Goa Chief Minister Minister Manohar Parrikar, who supervised the 2016 surgical strike at the Line of Control as Defence Minister at the time, has claimed that the footage of the strikes that was aired on a TV channel on June 27 was not aimed at gaining mileage for the upcoming Lok Sabha election.

“The footage has come one year before election. One year is a long period. If someone wanted to take the advantage, they could have done it two months before the elections,” Parrikar told reporters in Panaji on Thursday.

Parrikar also ruled out that the footage was released by union defence ministry. “As far as I am concerned, I don’t think it is released by defence ministry. Some channels started showing it yesterday,” Parrikar said.

“It is a small part which is being shown. Whoever were doubting about the surgical strike, this is a right response to them that our armed forces can carry out this kind of operation successfully without any hesitation and their bravery cannot be doubted,” he added.

“I don’t think government has released it. Some people managed to get a small byte of it and it was shown. Why you have to go in the issue of how it has come and why it has come,” he snapped at reporters.