Soon after the Indian Air Force carried out “pre-emptive air strikes” on Balakot across the Line of Control early Tuesday morning, the Indian Army shared part of a Ramdhari Singh Dinkar poem capturing the mood of the armed forces.

Posted by the official handle of Additional Director General, Public Information, Indian Army, the Hindi poem by Dinkar exhorts the warriors and sums up that only the victor can expect his peace offers to be respected. The tweet also said the Army was “always ready”, using a hashtag.

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‘क्षमाशील हो रिपु-समक्ष
तुम हुए विनीत जितना ही,
दुष्ट कौरवों ने तुमको
कायर समझा उतना ही।

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सच पूछो, तो शर में ही
बसती है दीप्ति विनय की,
सन्धि-वचन संपूज्य उसी का जिसमें शक्ति विजय की।’#IndianArmy#AlwaysReady pic.twitter.com/bUV1DmeNkL

— ADG PI – INDIAN ARMY (@adgpi) February 26, 2019

Loosely translated, the lines mean: “The more forgiving you got, the more the Kauravas assumed you were a coward. The glow of modesty lies hidden in the quiver and those the victors can expect his truce and treaty offers to be respected.”

The lines are part of a famous poem, Shakti aur Kshama, by the renowned poet.

On Tuesday, the IAF carried out strikes in Chakothi, Muzaffarabad and Balakot across the LoC, and destroyed the “biggest camp” of terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed.

Speaking to the media, Foreign Secretary Vijay K. Gokhale called it an “intelligence-led operation” and said a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jehadis being trained for fidayeen action were eliminated in the operation.

The air strikes come 12 days after the Pulwama terror attack in which 44 CRPF soldiers were killed. Masood Azhar-led JeM, based in Pakistan, had claimed responsibility for the suicide attack.

This Balakot camp was headed by Masood Azhar’s brother-in-law Maulana Yousuf Azhar (alias Ustad Ghouri).

“There was very credible intelligence info that JeM (Jaish-e-Mohammed) was planning to carry out terror strikes across India, thereby making this strike absolutely necessary. It was a non-military, pre-emptive strike. India has decided to take action against any terror threat to it,” Gokhale said.