Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Jan 18: Within hours of the flag meeting at Brigade Commanders level at Chakan-Da-Bagh in Poonch district, Pakistan tried to push a group of four to five militants in Balnoi forward area of Krishna Ghati sector this morning but the alert troops thwarted the attempt.
Official sources told the Excelsior that the troops observed movement of a group of four to five militants trying to infiltrate inside the Indian territory at about 6 am taking advantage of dense fog in the area at that time. However, the troops spotted movement of the militants through their sophisticated gadgetry and challenged them.
Troops opened firing aiming the direction the militants had taken to intrude, sources said, adding that the firing continued for about one and a half hours after which the militants reportedly retreated to Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK).
However, troops carried out intense search operations in entire Balnoi sector to ensure that the militants didn’t manage to sneak inside the Indian territory. The searches revealed that there were no traces of infiltration inside the LoC and that the militants appeared to have retreated to PoK.
Sources said the militants were equipped heavily with the arms and ammunition. The militants tried to infiltrate inside the Indian territory taking cover of dense fog, which had engulfed most parts of the LoC this morning reducing visibility to virtually zero.
There was no official version from the Army whether Pakistani troops also opened firing on the Indian posts to facilitate the infiltration attempt by the militants, which amounted to ceasefire violation.
The infiltration attempt, which couldn’t have taken place without the backing of Pakistan Army, came within hours after Indo-Pak Brigade Commanders held a flag meeting at Chakan-Da-Bagh in Poonch district for about 80 minutes yesterday and discussed measures to maintain ceasefire.
India had lodged strong protest with Pakistan Army delegation on January 13 incident at Nangi Tekri in Krishna Ghati sector in which three members of Pakistan’s Border Action Team had tried to infiltrate to commit an action on this side. However, the alert troops had forced the BAT members to retreat to PoK from where they had set in.
This was second incident on the LoC in less than a week. Sources said the militants wouldn’t have been able to make intrusion bid at the LoC without knowledge of the Pakistani troops.
There had been reports with security agencies that the militants in large number could try to infiltrate into the Indian territory from the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir in the coming months. Army has been maintaining a very high alert all along the LoC to ensure that there was no successful infiltration attempt by the militants.
“Apart from infiltration attempts by the militants, the troops also had to keep a high level alert on Pakistan Army’s BAT members, who could try to target forward posts of the Indian Army,” sources said.
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