Tension escalates, Army launches massive ops
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Jan 11: In back to back attacks, three Army soldiers including a Major were martyred, two of them in a suspected BAT strike in Lam area of Nowshera sector and another in a sniping incident in Sunderbani sector of Rajouri district, triggering fresh wave of tension on the Line of Control (LoC) as troops launched massive search operations on the LoC to thwart infiltration attempts and avenge the killings.
During past few days, Pakistan army had regularly been violating ceasefire on the LoC in twin border districts of Poonch and Rajouri and there had been reports that the troops from across were trying to aid and abet infiltration of the militants.
Sources told the Excelsior that an Improvised Explosive Device (IED), suspected to be planted by Pakistan army’s Border Action Team (BAT), went off when an Army Gypsy moved over it at forward village of Pukharni in Lam area of Nowshera sector at 3 pm today. This led to a powerful explosion in which four soldiers were injured.
Another Army team rushed to the help of soldiers critically injured in the Gypsy and there were reports that they too stepped over another IED, planted by the BAT team, leading to one more explosion.
An Army Major and a soldier were martyred and four jawans including a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) were injured. The deceased Army Major has been identified as GS Nair.
Re-enforcement of Army was immediately rushed to the spot and they shifted martyred and injured jawans to hospital. Later, all injured were airlifted to the Command Hospital in Udhampur, where condition of couple of them was stated to be serious.
Troops immediately cordoned off entire area in Lam sector and conducted searches. However, presence of the BAT intruders couldn’t be spotted immediately and it was believed that they might have fled back to Pakistan after planting the IEDs on Indian side of the LoC in Lam area of Nowshera sector.
A Defence spokesman said: “Today at about 3 pm, an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) explosion took place near LoC in Nowshera sector in which an Army officer and a soldier got grievously injured. Immediate resuscitation and medical aid was provided. However, they succumbed to the injuries”.
In another incident of unprovoked ceasefire violation by the Pakistani troops along LoC in Sunderbani sector of Rajouri district, the enemy troops sniped an Army porter identified as Hemraj, causing serious injuries to him. Injured porter was evacuated from the spot and shifted to hospital, where he succumbed to the gunshot wounds.
Hemraj was a local.
Army authorities have promised all possible assistance to the family of martyred Army porter.
Sources said the martyrdom of three Army soldiers including a Major have escalated tensions on the LoC as troops geared up to avenge the killing and teach the enemy a lesson for the misadventure.
They added that an alert has been sounded along the LoC in anticipation of infiltration attempts by the militants under the cover of ceasefire violations by the Pakistan army. Only yesterday, Army chief Gen Bipin Rawat had stated that 300 militants were waiting across the LoC for infiltration into Jammu and Kashmir.
The year 2018 had witnessed 2,936 ceasefire violations by Pakistan along the Indo-Pak border, the highest in the last 15 years.
The continuous shelling and firing by Pakistan targeting villages has set in fear psychosis among the border dwellers, sources said, adding the border people feared that escalated tensions would impact their life especially cultivation of crops and studies of children.
Pakistani troops resorted to firing and shelling along the LoC in Poonch nine out of 11 days of this month, they said.
On Thursday, Pakistan resorted to firing and shelling in two sectors of Rajouri and Poonch resulting in injuries to an Army Major and a BSF jawan in Tarkundi forward area of Balakote sector.
On Wednesday, Pakistan troops resorted to firing and shelling in Kalal forward area in Nowshera sector of Rajouri district with small arms and heavy caliber weapons besides shelling in Poonch sector, they said. Indian troops have been giving very effective retaliation to Pakistan army’s firing and shelling on LoC, inflicting heavy damages on them.
Despite repeated calls for restraint and adherence to the ceasefire understanding of 2003 for maintaining peace and tranquility at Indo-Pak flag meetings, Pakistan continued to violate the ceasefire, sources said.
General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Northern Command, Lt Gen Ranbir Singh had on Monday visited forward areas along the LoC and reviewed security situation of Jammu and Rajouri districts.
Lt Gen Singh accompanied by the White Knight Corps commander Lt Gen Paramjit Singh also visited forward posts of Rajouri and Akhnoor sectors to review the operational preparedness and the prevailing security situation.
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