As India and Pakistan  are locked in a fast escalating conflict  with Islamabad showing one of the IAF pilot in its captivity, Union Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday claimed  that India was  capable of carrying out an operation similar to the 2011 US action in Pakistan to eliminate al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.

Jaitley’s  remarks at an event related to the campaign to clean River Ganga followed  a day after the Indian Air Force struck the main terror camp of Jaish-e-Mohammed terror outfit in Balakot in Pakistan’s Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.

Referring to the US operation in Abbottabad, Jaitley said, “It is said that a week is too long a time in politics. In our country the way people get enthusiastic, if you look at the last 24 hours, one week would appear to be a day.

“The kind of things we see...I remember when the US Navy SEAL had taken Osama bin Laden from Abbottabad, can’t we do the same?”

“We could earlier only imagine, desire and get frustrated and disappointed (for failing to conduct such operations). But today, it is

possible,” he said at the event dedicated to generate funds to clean river Ganga.

The event was organised by the Ministry of Water Resources and Ganga Rejuvenation at DRDO. Jaitley contributed Rs 1 lakh in his personal capacity for the programme to clean the river.

The US’ special forces had raided Osama’s hideaway, a compound in Abbottabad in  Khyber Pakhtunkhwa north of Islamabad, killing the dreaded terrorist.

On September 29, 2016, India announced that it conducted “surgical strikes” against militant launch pads across the Line of Control in Pakistani-administered Kashmir, and inflicted “significant casualties”.

The airstrike by  IAF at Balakot  in Pakistan territory  on Tuesday morning has led to considerable speculation on the extent of casualties and damage there. Pakistan Air Force  retaliated on Wednesday and captured one of the IAF pilots of MIG  that came down on the Pakistani soil.