No surgical strikes take place during Congress rule:Indian defense minister

NEW DELHI, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- Indian Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar on Wednesday took a jibe on the main opposition Congress party, saying that "surgical strikes" of the magnitude of Sept. 29 were never carried out by the Indian Army in Pakistan in the past. "I have been the defense minister for over two years and from whatever I have learnt, there was no surgical strike anytime earlier. What probably they are quoting are actions taken by border action teams, which is a common practice across globe including the Indian Army," Parrikar said. He added "In this, local commanders take positive action against opponents who have been troubling them to settle the score... it is not an official action approved by the government, these are called covert operations without knowledge of anyone." The defense minister's comments came in Mumbai in the wake of Congress party's claims that surgical strikes had been carried out in the past and that the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government never publicised such operations like that of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government this time. The Indian Army had last month claimed to have carried out "surgical strikes" across the Line of Control in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir to eliminate multiple terror launch pads in the wake of terror attack on an Army camp in Indian-controlled Kashmir's Uri sector, in which 19 soldiers were killed.