Ahir said there is a process for putting such issues in perspective which was duly followed by the Army as well as the government.
"The laid down procedure has been followed. The DGMO briefed (about the surgical strikes). It was not the Defence Minister nor the Prime Minister and not the Home Minister. It was the DGMO who briefed (the media). That was the right thing to do and they (Army) did it.”
"There was a time when written documents were submitted. Now the times have changed. Now clips are given and the clips have been given," he told reporters here.
The Minister of State for Home's statement came hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security and said only those authorised to speak on the surgical strikes should issue statements.
A political slugfest broke out on Tuesday over surgical strikes on terror launch pads across the LoC with Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam calling it "fake", provoking stinging criticism from BJP even as his own party said it "totally dissociates" from his remarks.
The Congress leader went on to demand "some evidence" to prove the surgical strikes did take place and accused the Centre's ruling BJP of indulging in politics over the issue.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal too had asked the government to release the proof of the cross-LoC surgical strikes to counter the Pakistani propaganda against the operation.
With patriotic sentiments running high amid soaring tensions with Pakistan, Union Minister Uma Bharti said leaders who cast "doubt over the Army's surgical strike should take Pakistani citizenship".
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