Friday's headlines became apparent to Indian journalists fairly early on Thursday morning, when the Ministry of Defence and the External Affairs Ministry organised a joint press conference to announce that the Indian Army had conducted “surgical strikes on terror launchpads” along the Line of Control.
The operation on Wednesday night, said the Indian Army’s Director General of Military Operations Ranbir Singh, “were basically focused to ensure that these terrorists do not succeed in their design of infiltration and carrying out destruction and endangering the lives of citizens of our country".
The government’s official stand was that the strikes were to prevent a planned terror attack. However, it was fairly evident that the government was making it clear that it had not settled for mere diplomatic posturing following the attack on a military base in Uri two weeks ago, which led to the deaths of 19 soldiers during and after the operation.
Newspapers across the country read between the lines as headlines hailed the government and Army for their “answer to Uri”.
Some front pages included primers for readers perplexed about what “surgical strike” meant.
Some English newspapers chose Hollywood films as their cultural reference points. Bangalore Mirror referred to superhero franchise film The Avengers, while Hyderabad’s Deccan Chronicle picked Zero Dark Thirty, the 2012 dramatisation of how an elite team of military operatives tracked down and assassinated Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.
Amid the crowing, only Punjabi newspaper Ajit pointed out on its front page that border villages had been evacuated as a precaution against retaliation.
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