Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Oct 1: Army chief Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag has called upon the Commanders to keep the troops on the borders ready to meet with any eventuality from Pakistan side in the wake of surgical strikes carried out by the Indian Army at four sectors inside Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) in the wee hours of Thursday. He reviewed situation along the borders in the aftermath of the surgical strikes and steps taken by the Army along LoC to curb infiltration by the militants.
Accompanied by Deputy Chief of Army Staff (Planning and System) Lt Gen Subrata Saha, former GOC of Srinagar based 15 Corps, Gen Suhag today reviewed preparedness of the Army along the borders at Northern Command Headquarters in Udhampur followed by Western Command Headquarters at Chandi Mandir in Chandigarh. The two Army Commands cover Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab frontiers.
Sources told the Excelsior that high-level review of border situation at the Northern Command by Gen Suhag and Lt Gen Saha was attended among others by Northern Command chief Lt Gen DS Hooda, GOC Nagrota based 16 Corps Lt Gen RR Nimbhorkar, GOC Srinagar based 15 Corps Lt Gen SK Dua and other top Army officers.
The Army chief reviewed “operational preparedness” of the Army along the borders with Pakistan and called for “high vigil and surveillance” all along the Line of Control (LoC) to thwart any possible retaliatory strike by Pakistan army or its supported militants in the aftermath of surgical strikes at four places inside PoK in which a large number of militants, around 50 and 9 Pakistan army jawans were killed and several others injured.
Sources said the Army chief and the deputy chief held similar review of situation on western frontiers with Western Army Commander Lt Gen Surinder Singh, GOC Yol Cantonment based 9 Corps Lt Gen Ashok Amre, GOC Jallandhar based 11 Corps Lt Gen BS Sherawat and GOC Bhatinda based 10 Corps Lt Gen Ashwani Kumar.
While the Northern Command covers entire LoC in Jammu and Kashmir including Poonch, Rajouri, Kupwara and Baramulla, the four sectors from where the surgical strikes were conducted at Bhimber, Hot Spring Point, Leepa Valley and Kel by the Indian troops, the Western Command covers entire border with Pakistan in Jammu, Samba and Kathua districts and Punjab, where BSF has been deployed as frontline forces as it was the international boundary.
Pointing out that the Army didn’t want to take any chances along the borders with Pakistan after the surgical strikes though it wasn’t anticipating any “retaliatory action” by Pakistan army, sources said the Army chief called upon the troops to maintain “high level vigil and surveillance” as the Pakistani troops could send militants to target security installations and civilian areas in revenge of surgical strikes.
Gen Suhag directed for strengthening both Anti-Infiltration as well as Anti-Militancy Grids and maintaining very close liaison with BSF, police and Intelligence agencies to thwart any kind of militant attack on the borders or the hinterland.
The Army chief later met the Special Forces jawans, who had conducted surgical strikes deep inside PoK and returned successfully. He lauded extraordinary courage displayed by the Special Forces in executing first-ever surgical strikes deep inside PoK and achieving desired results by inflicting “significant casualties” on the militants and, in the process handling Pakistan army very efficiently.
He also discussed the ways and means to ensure return of Army jawan Babu Lal Chovan of Maharashtra, who had inadvertently cross the LoC into Pakistan along with his weapon.
Lt Gen Hooda, the GOC-in-C Northern Command and Lt Gen Surinder Singh, the GOC-in-C Western Command briefed the Army chief about the Contingency Plan put in place on the borders to counter any threat from the Pakistan-be it in the form of surgical strike or infiltration attempts by the militants.
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