PM Modi: India Gave Befitting Reply to Terror
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said India’s response to cross-border terrorism has fundamentally changed over the past decade, citing the 2016 surgical strikes, the 2019 Balakot airstrike and Operation Sindoor as examples of a more assertive counter-terrorism policy.
PM Modi Recalls 2016 Surgical Strikes
Speaking during the 138th episode of Mann Ki Baat, Modi recalled the Indian Army’s surgical strikes across the Line of Control on September 28-29, 2016.
He said the operation marked a significant shift in India’s approach to terrorism by demonstrating that attacks originating from across the border could draw a direct military response.
The surgical strikes were conducted against terrorist launch pads after the September 2016 Uri attack, in which 19 Indian soldiers were killed.
From Balakot to Operation Sindoor
Modi said India had repeatedly reinforced the same message over the following decade, pointing to the Balakot airstrike in 2019 and Operation Sindoor in 2025.
The Balakot strike followed the Pulwama suicide bombing that killed 40 CRPF personnel, while Operation Sindoor was launched after the April 2025 Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 civilians.
During Operation Sindoor, India targeted what it described as terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
India Says Terrorism Will Face Decisive Response
The Prime Minister said the period when terrorist attacks against India could go unanswered had ended.
He maintained that terrorists targeting India would receive a “befitting response” and said the country’s armed forces had demonstrated their ability to act against terrorist infrastructure beyond India’s borders.
Modi presented the sequence from the surgical strikes to Operation Sindoor as evidence of continuity in India’s evolving counter-terrorism doctrine.
