After Balakot air strikes, Indian army punishes Pakistan in Neelum valley area

6-10 Pak soldiers killed in strong retaliatory action: Army Chief

Eight months after flattening one of the biggest terror factories in Balakot, Indian army late Saturday night once again deployed its Kargil war hero, 155 mm Bofors gun, along with other heavy caliber weapons to destroy at least three terror launch pads and another terrorist camp in Neelum valley area immediately after Pakistan army initiated ‘unprovoked‘ ceasefire violation in Tangdhar sector of frontier Kupwara district late Saturday night.

In the punitive strikes, the Indian army killed at least 6-10 Pakistani soldiers while around one dozen terrorists are also believed to have been killed in the strong retaliatory action.

For a long time, various intelligence agencies were warning against regrouping of a large number of terrorists across two dozen launching pads in the Neelum valley area.

Indian Army Chief, General Bipin Rawat while confirming the targeted strikes in PoK said, “6 to 10 Pakistani soldiers have been killed in strong retaliatory strikes”. He said an equal number of terrorists were killed in three out of four launch pads destroyed in PoK.

Meanwhile, reports of Pakistani civilians getting killed have also filtered in from the forward areas across Neelum valley. On the Indian side, two soldiers attained martyrdom while one civilian lost his life in the Ghundisat area of Tangdhar while three other civilians received injuries.

According to local reports, around 40-50 residential structures were also damaged in the intense exchange of firing while a large number of livestock perished and several vehicles were damaged in heavy shelling in the area.

This is the third major offensive by the Indian army after the surgical strikes of September 29 and airstrike on Balakot in February 2019.

Why Indian army decided to target launch pads across PoK

Hours after the Indian army successfully destroyed three launch pads in PoK, Army Chief General Bipin Rawat said an attempt was made by terrorists to infiltrate though Tangdhar on Saturday evening.”We have picked up definite information that some of the terror camps north of Pirpanjal are active. The terrorists have arrived in these camps… in that, they are likely to infiltrate,” he said.

As Pakistan opened fire, Indian troops retaliated, he said. “But before they could attempt the infiltration…It was decided that we target their terror camps. We had the coordinates for these camps. In the retaliatory action, we have caused severe damage to terrorist infrastructure. Terrorist camps opposite the Tangdhar sector have been destroyed,” he added. Several Pakistani army posts and gun positions, providing cover to the terror launch pads, were picked up by the Indian army and destroyed in targeted strikes using heavy caliber area weapons.

Why Launchpads across Neelum valley were targeted

Punitive strikes, using Bofors guns, were carried out by the Indian army late Saturday night to flatten ‘terror factories’ across the line of control in the Neelum valley area.

Over one dozen terrorists, possibly belonging to Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) was hit badly in the surprise attack.

This is the second major operation launched by the Indian army in the same sector after successfully carrying out the surgical strikes on September 29, 2016.

For a long time, various intelligence agencies were warning against regrouping of a large number of terrorists across two dozen launching pads in the Neelum valley area.

The area is considered the most suited infiltration route by Pakistan based handlers to push heavily armed infiltrators inside the Indian territory.

Before infiltrating inside the Indian territory, infiltrators took advantage of densely forested area, deep ravines and high altitude passes

Ahead of the peak winter season, the forward areas were witnessing regular infiltration bids by small groups of infiltrators.

Indian army, keeping a close watch on their movement, late Saturday night launched a fresh offensive and demolished at least four terror camps in the Neelum valley area.

Since 2008, the Neelum valley area has emerged as a hotbed of terror launch pads

From time to time local residents in the area take out protest demonstrations against mushrooming of terror launch pads as they fear punitive strikes by the Indian army destroys a lot of infrastructure in the region.

The highest number of ceasefire violations in 2019?

The line of control is turning red hot as largest number of ceasefire violations have been reported this year so far.

According to official sources, as many as 2350 ceasefire violations have been reported along the 750 km long line of control in Jammu and Kashmir this year.

Out of these around 650 ceasefire violations have been reported since August 5 in the state.

On an average 3-4 incidents of ceasefire violations were reported in Rajouri and Poonch sectors since August 5.

A total number of 9 Indian soldiers attained martyrdom in recent incidents of cross loc firing.

Note:
1. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of PGurus.