Conducting a surgical strike on India's North-Eastern border was an easy task, as compared to carrying out a similar strike on the Western border shared with Pakistan, because there was a risk of triggering war, former Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said on Tuesday.
The Goa Chief Minister, who was interacting on students on occasion of Children's Day at a function in Panaji on Tuesday afternoon, also said that a great deal of readiness went in to actually carry out the 2016 surgical strike in the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
"When we (army) went to the Myanmar border for surgical strike, to take that decision was relatively easy, because along that border, there were no major issues. But when the decision was taken on this border, then there was a risk of a possible reaction after the surgical strike, then out of that there could be war," the former Defence Minister said.
"And if there was war, then there was a need for total readiness. therefore the pressure was different. I remember, when we conducted a surgical strike on the north east border, then one of my friend from Goa called me and said before you retire carry out another (surgical strike) here, on Western Border, against Pakistan, so that your name will be permanent. I said, my name does not matter, but if the country needs to be given a signal, then I will do it on the day it is necessary," he said.
The Chief Minister also spelled out to the students the amount of preparation which was required to carry out the unprecedented exercise.
"And it was not about actually doing it, but preparing for such an eventuality. If something needs to be done, one needs preparation. If you are cooking at home, then you need to go the market and buy vegetables or fish. For that (surgical strike) we had made preparations quickly for what was needed, in case we needed to execute it," he said.
Calling the position of a Defence Minister as a "thankless post", Parrikar said that often responding to incorrect news reports in the media, was not possible because of the possibility of inadvertantly sharing secrets to enemy countries.
"Because very often what happens when you are Defence Minister that if some thing appears on media, on TV, you are not in position to reply because of secrecy and importance of the news. You are not able to answer, because if you answer your enemy may come to know what you are up to," the former Defence Minister said,
"Therefore on many occasions, one of the my difficult aspects was, if something appears on the media, I would know it is wrong, this is not wrong and this media person, is drawing a wrong meaning from something and interprets its in the way he wants. But I was not in a position to reply. Because if one replies, our strategy the enemy will know. This was the most difficult thing," he added.
Parrikar was elevated to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led cabinet in 2014 as Defence Minister and in 2017 was rushed to state politics, where he now heads a Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition government.