New Delhi: LoC tension hits Kargil after 10 years

TNN

New Delhi, 17 Aug, 2013 : The line of control (LoC) has turned red-hot along its entire 778km length, with some spillover fire extending to the 198-km international boundary (IB) stretch in Jammu & Kashmir as well. The firing duels between the Indian and Pakistani armies have spread to even the Kargil and Drass sectors on the LoC that have not witnessed such hostilities for the last decade.

 

After initially being caught napping when five of its soldiers were killed in a cross-border ambush on August 6, the Indian Army is now "retaliating in a massive manner" to every instance of ceasefire violation by Pakistan.

Three to four Pakistani soldiers are believed to have been killed at their Nikial and Jandrot posts — manned by the Pakistani army’s 658 and 650 Mujahid battalions opposite the Indian Mendhar sector on the LoC — over the last few days. Pakistan’s Chirikot and Bhattal posts — across Indian positions in Poonch and Krishnaghati — are also being "surgically targeted" by Indian forces.

With the resumption of the bilateral composite dialogue process already on hold, the escalation in border hostilities could cast a long shadow over the meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif on the sidelines of the UN general assembly (UNGA) session in New York next month.

While areas like Poonch, Krishnaghati, Bimbergalli, Uri and Nowgam are no strangers to hostilities, this is the first time that cross-border fire has taken place in Drass and Kargil heights since the November 2003 ceasefire agreement. The Jammu and Samba sectors on the IB have also flared up in recent days.

 

 

Befitting reply

"Kargil and Drass have remained calm for several years now from what I can recall. But Pakistani troops have also been opening fire there since Thursday. They have violated the ceasefire 17-18 times in different sectors since August 6, even resorting to their heaviest 82mm mortars," said a senior officer on Friday.

"We are giving it back to them with solid responses through our heavy machine guns and 81mm medium mortars," he said. The more deadly field artillery guns and howitzers have, however, "not come into regular play" from both sides as of now, he added.

However, the intent to give "a befitting reply" by launching "punitive fire assaults" is loud and clear after defence minister AK Antony declared on Monday that the government has given "freedom" to the Indian forces to act tough with Pakistan forces if the situation so demands.

The Indian Army had not responded in "full measure" to the August 6 ambush of an Indian patrol by a "border action team" of Pakistan army regulars and terrorists in the Poonch sector. But now, along with Antony’s tough talking, Army chief General Bikram Singh has directed his battalion commanders deployed along the LoC to be "aggressive and offensive" in the face of provocation by Pakistani forces. A similar response after the beheading of an Indian soldier in the Mendhar sector on January 8 had put on hold the resumption of the composite dialogue process.

The ceasefire has been already violated more than 65 times this year, shooting up by 80% as compared to the corresponding period last year. If there were 44 violations in 2010, the tally stood at 51 (2011) and 93 (2012).