A question put by a media person soon after Army's surgical strikes in Myanmar in 2015 eventually paved the way for subsequent strikes across the LoC in 2016, Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar said on Saturday.
"The Army was instructed to be prepared for surgical strikes on the western border, a day after surgical strikes in Myanmar were (formally) announced by Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore in 2015," the former Defence Minister said.
Parrikar said that during the media briefing by Rathore, a question was posed by a media person about whether India would have reacted in a similar retaliatory capacity along the western borders of India.
"It pained me when this question was asked. Next day, I conducted a meeting and told the Army to be prepared on the western border," Parrikar said.
He was speaking at an interactive programme organised in Goa as part of the three years of Modi government in power at the Centre.