The Indian Army mounted an artillery attack on at least four terror camps and Pakistani military positions across the Line of Control (LoC) in retaliation to ceasefire violations meant to assist infiltrators, killing at least six soldiers of the neighbouring country and inflicting heavy terrorist casualties, General Bipin Rawat said.
“Pakistan army was trying to push in terrorists. We lost two soldiers (havildar Padam Bahadur Shrestha and rifleman Kumar Shrestha of Gorkha Rifles) and a civilian (Mohd Sadiq, 55, of Ghundhishat village) in the Pakistani firing in our ‘depth’ areas,” Gen Rawat said. “Instead of waiting for the terrorists to infiltrate, we decided to target the launch pads since we had the coordinates for them. We had definite information that some camps and launch pads have been activated there (in the Neelum Valley of PoK),” he added.
The Army deployed 155mm Bofors howitzers – the mainstay of the artillery firepower of the army – apart from heavy-calibre mortars and anti-tank guided missiles, to target the four makeshift launch pads at Jura, Athmuqam, Kundalsahi and Sandok, which are “fed” by the main terrorist training camps in Manshera, Kotli and Muzaffarabad, which are quite a distance away from the LoC. The co-located Pakistan army posts and gun positions aiding the launch pads were also not spared in the fire assaults. “There has been heavy damage on the terror infrastructure across the Tangdhar sector,” the Army chief said. The counter-attack by India came after two Indian Army soldiers and a civilian were killed in unprovoked Pakistani firing on the previous day at Karnah in J&K’s Kupwara district, according to the army. Three others were also injured in the Pakistani firing that left one house, two cowsheds and a rice godown completely destroyed.
The army chief briefed defence minister Rajnath Singh about the Indian response. Singh congratulated General Rawat and his men for taking resolute action against terrorists while avoiding civilian casualties. An official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said India's response could not be compared to the “surgical strikes” carried out against terror launch pads in 2016. On the intervening night of September 28-29 in 2016, the army carried attacks on seven terror launch pads across the LoC in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK). The next day, it announced that India had mounted the offensive using Special Forces on the ground, inflicting “significant casualties” on terrorists. Another official said that the calibrated escalation of area weapons was undertaken by India after the infiltration attempt and that the army retains the right to respond in case the Pakistan Army continues to assist terrorist activities across Indian borders.
Killed 9 Indian soldiers, lost 1 of ours, claims Pak
The Pakistan army claimed that it killed nine Indian soldiers and injured several others in a “befitting response” to ceasefire violations from across the LoC in J&K, reports Omer Farooq Khan. Asif Ghafoor, the spokesperson for Pakistan’s armed forces, said that nine Indian soldiers were killed in its firing and two Indian bunkers were destroyed. He said that the Pakistani civilian casualties occurred in the Jura, Shahkot and Nousheri sectors, a claim rejected by India. Pakistan foreign affairs ministry spokesperson Muhammad Faisal summoned Indian charge d’affaires Gaurav Ahluwalia to his office to protest.
The counter-offensive measures come weeks after multiple intelligence agencies warned the government that at least 60 terrorists have infiltrated into Jammu & Kashmir recently and another 500 are waiting to infiltrate, according to the army. The development follows India’s August 5 measures to nullify Article 370 of the Constitution, stripping J&K of its special status, and bifurcate the state into two Union territories - J&K and Ladakh. In the previous big escalation of tensions between the two countries, on February 27 this year, Indian Air Force fighters flew deep into Pakistan to bomb a terror facility in reprisal for a February 14 suicide bombing in J&K’s Pulwama that killed 40 troopers of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).
Tensions between the sub-continental neighbours have remained high since the incident, which also triggered a dogfight between IAF fighters and Pakistani jets. In the air combat, a Pakistani fighter jet was downed and IAF, too, lost a Mig-21 Bison in Pakistani territory. Pakistan released the Indian jet’s fighter pilot, Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, two days after the incident amid international pressure.
New Delhi has repeatedly snubbed talks with Pakistan unless and until Islamabad stops terrorist groups from using its soil to launch cross-border attacks in India. A recent document circulated among India’s intelligence agencies shows that Pakistan has eased restrictions on terror groups, including Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Hizbul Mujahideen (HM). The intel shows that JeM and LeT have stepped up their recruitment drives in Pakistan’s tribal areas. The Pakistan establishment is also making efforts to deploy more Kashmiri-origin terrorists in India in a bid to show that militancy is a “local phenomenon”, according to the document. These groups are planning an attack in response to the Indian move on Article 370, intelligence suggests.
The window for infiltration of terrorists along the LoC closes with approaching winter. Sectors such as Gurez, Kargil, Machhil, Keran, Tangdhar, Uri are snowbound by November making it difficult for terrorists to cross over. And as the winter approaches, infiltrating terrorists shift their focus to the Jammu-Kathua area. Intelligence inputs indicate that several terror launch pads across the LoC are active again. Almost seven months after the Balakot operation, JeM has revived its terror training complex in the region. Islamabad relaxed restrictions over terror groups targeting India after August 5.
Speaking about Sunday’s counter-offensive, former Director General of Military Operations Lieutenant General (retd) Vinod Bhatia said: “Besides the obvious tactical reasons of sending in terrorists, at the strategic level, Pakistan is also trying to signal to the global community that Kashmir issue is and will turn violent. It has got a breather from the FATF (Financial Action Task Force), which helps the Pakistan Army to create problems along the border.” Lieutenant General Satish Dua (retd), who commanded the Srinagar-based Chinar Corps, said: “I think one can expect bigger misadventures from Pakistan, now that they have evaded the FATF for few months.”
Almost 650 of 2,350 violations have taken place in last two months
Almost 650 of the 2,350 cease fire violations (CFVs) recorded by the Indian Army this year have taken place in the last two months. The number of CFVs in 2017 stood at 971, with 1,629 being recorded in 2018. Incidentally, the Navy is planning a major exercise in the Arabian Sea to hone its war-fighting skills and test its “operational preparedness” in the Arabian Sea over the next fortnight.
