Army Chief Bipin Rawat on Monday said that India could conduct more “surgical strikes” across the Line of Control if necessary, PTI reported. He said the strikes in September 2016 were a message to Pakistan. “The strikes were a message we wanted to communicate to them [Pakistan] and they have understood what we mean – that things could follow up, if required,” Rawat said.

Rawat also said that infiltration from across the border would continue. “Terrorists will keep coming because the terror camps are operational there [across the Line of Control],” he said at a book launch in New Delhi. “Even we are ready. We will keep receiving them [infiltrators] to dispatch them two-and-a-half feet below the ground.”

Asked about the Indian Army’s preparedness a year after the surgical strikes, Rawat said, “You can count on us.” He said India is now a “stronger nation, capable of taking decisions when the time comes, keeping our national security in mind”, reported NDTV.