When is PM Modi planning to show off his ’56 inch Chest’ ? Congress
NEW DELHI : India has warned of an unambiguous response to Pakistan, after the mutilation of two of its solider along the Line of Control (LoC) in the Krishna Ghati sector in Pooch on 1 May. This was conveyed by the Director General of Military Operations, Lieutenant General AK Bhat, to his Pakistani counterpart Major General Sahir Shamshad Mirza on Tuesday. The two spoke on the hotline.
General Bhat rejected Pakistan’s claims and said that Border Action Teams (BAT) – a small group of soldiers who infiltrate and attack army positions – were being trained along the Line of Control. Meanwhile, the Chinese news agency, Xinhua reported from Islamabad that “a local commanders’ level hotline contact was established at the Rawalakot-Poonch sector on the LoC on the night of May 1 between Pakistan and Indian Army authorities.”
The Indian Army didn’t confirm or deny the exchange between the local-level commanders. To reduce misunderstanding at the ground level there are direct lines connecting commanders in India and Pakistan.Earlier, in 2016, after 19 soldiers were killed by terrorists in the Uri Brigade Headquarters, Indian commandos had crossed the LoC and destroyed Pakistani army positions.
Pakistani army positions in the Krishna Ghati sector gave “fire support” to the infiltrating group which killed and mutilated two Indian soldiers, Lieutenant General A K Bhat told General Mirza over the phone.Pakistani troops entered 200 meters into the Indian territory and ambushed a combined patrol of the Indian Army and Border Security Force (BSF) on 1 May. Two soldiers of the nine-member patrol were killed and mutilated.
Pakistan, which has denied the barbaric act, said in response today that India “should look inwards” to determine how the soldiers were killed, sought “actionable evidence” of India’s claims, and warned “any misadventure shall be appropriately responded at a place and time of own choosing.”
The recriminations were exchanged between top commanders of India and Pakistan – the Director General of Military Operations, Lieutenant General AK Bhatt, spoke on a hotline to his counterpart across the border hours after Delhi warned that the army will exact revenge for the atrocities committed on Prem Sagar and Naib Subedar Paramjit Singh. Both men were part of a team patrolling the Line of Control or de facto border in the Poonch sector last morning when two posts were assaulted with rockets and mortar bombs.
The soldiers – one from the Border Security Force and the other from the army – were honoured as heroes this morning before their bodies were transported to their families in Tarn Taran in Punjab and Deoria in Uttar Pradesh. Prem Sagar’s daughter said “We want 50 heads to avenge him.”
India says a team of Pakistani soldiers and terrorists sneaked past the Line of Control and entered Indian territory under the cover of heavy fire from the Pakistani army, “Full fire support provided by Pak Army Post located in vicinity of the incident,” India conveyed over the hotline today, describing the mutilation of the soldiers as a “dastardly and inhuman act” deserving of “unequivocal condemnation and response.”
Meanwhile, The Congress did not keep politics out of the mix- it targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi, stating on its Twitter account, “Pakistan has been attacking India with impunity. When is PM Modi planning to show off his ’56 inch Chest’ to them & send them cowering?”
In September, India responded to a massive attack by Pakistani terrorists on an army camp in Uri in Kashmir by sending soldiers across the Line of Control to take out staging areas for terrorists in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Delhi warned at the time that it could repeat the action.
According to CNN-News 18, this time, Pakistan launched a double attack of ceasefire violation and Border Action Teams (BAT) on the patrolling Border Security Forces (BSF). “The Pakistan Army carried out unprovoked rocket and mortar firing on two forward posts on the LoC in Krishna Ghati sector. In an unsoldierly act by the Pakistan Army, the bodies of the two soldiers in the patrol were mutilated,” the Northern Command said in a statement.
The situation in Kashmir, which was already not the ideal ever since the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani in July last year, might start deteriorating even further. Burhan’s encounter and the subsequent protests in the Valley have been wreaking havoc in the lives of thousands of villagers for months now.
It is safe to say that the recent beheadings of the two Indian soldiers in no way will make the lives of Kashmiris any easier. One would have to jog one’s memory real hard to recount all the ceasefire violations and cross-border firing that has happened ever since the Uri army base was attacked in September 2016, but according to reports, between September 2016 to November 2016, there were at least 12 ceasefire violations along the LoC.
Let’s take a look at what the Kashmir Valley has been dealing with since last year’s Uri attack. Nearly 10 days after the Uri attack that claimed lives of 18 Indian Army jawans, India carried out surgical strikes in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir, inflicting heavy casualties on terrorists and ‘those protecting them” and indicating a change of stand on the rules of engagement on the disputed line of control.
In September 2016, paratroopers from special forces were airdropped at the LoC, from where they crossed over to the Pakistani side. According to sources, Indian commandos entered three kilometres across the Line of Control to conduct the ‘surgical strikes’.
The Narendra Modi-led BJP government took the decision in the wake of increased infiltration bids across the border, the DGMO had then said. Terrorists had begun gathering in large numbers along the LoC with the objective of crossing the border and targeting locations in Jammu and Kashmir, as well as other metros. In such a scenario, surgical strikes were considered the best option to deal with the threat, the DGMO told the media.
