Since 1997, Poonch city, located roughly 6 kms from the line of control, was never targeted by the Pakistan army
Less than 48 hours after the BAT strike, along with the line of control in Sunderbani sector of Rajouri, in which three Indian soldiers attained martyrdom Pakistan army on Tuesday used 105/106 mm recoilless gun to target Poonch Brigade headquarters after a gap of more than 20 years.
On Sunday afternoon, the Border Action Team (BAT) of Pakistan army had targeted an Indian patrol party in Sunderbani sector of Rajouri.
The incident triggered a panic reaction among the army authorities in Poonch as they rushed to close down educational institutions in the forward area fearing fresh escalation following the provocative attack.
Since 1997, Poonch city, located roughly 6 kms from the line of control, was never targeted by the Pakistan army.
Under Prime Minister Imran Khan it is for the first time Pak army troops violated ceasefire in which they resorted to firing on vital army installations to deliberately provoke strong retaliation from the Indian side.
Confirming the incident late Tuesday evening, Ministry of Defence Spokesman in Jammu, Lt-Col Devendra Anand said, “at around 10.35 a.m during ceasefire violation, Pakistan troops fired Rocket-propelled grenades (RPG) and small arms. One round landed on a barrel type store shelter in Poonch causing it to catch fire. Initial analysis indicates calibre of 105/106 mm RCL was used”.
In another incident one round of 82 mm landed in Jhallas around 5.35 p.m, he added.
On Sunday afternoon, the Border Action Team (BAT) of Pakistan army had targeted an Indian patrol party in Sunderbani sector of Rajouri. Three Indian soldiers were martyred in the surprise attack inside the Indian territory.
During the day army authorities remained tight-lipped and shied away from sharing the inputs but Senior Superintendent of Police, Poonch district Rajiv Pandey told reporters in Poonch, “initially we had received inputs that some kind of blast has been reported inside the Brigade headquarters”.
The Ministry statement also said that India shared its grave grave concern at the continuing incidents of unprovoked ceasefire violations by the Pakistan forces along the LoC and the International Border (IB)
“We immediately rushed to the spot along with other teams. “Prima facie, a shell from across has landed inside the Brigade headquarters”, SSP Poonch told reporters.
He said, “a store was hit but no loss of life and property was reported in the blast”. He said, “the store caught fire and police parties were rushed to the spot to douse the flames. We are carrying out detailed investigations to ascertain the kind of blast”,he added.
PAK High Commission officer summoned by MEA, strong protest lodged
In New Delhi, the External Affairs Ministry summoned a senior official of the Pakistan High Commission and lodged a strong protest over the cross-border infiltration attempt in Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday in which two terrorists and three Indian soldiers were killed.
“A senior official in the High Commission for Pakistan in New Delhi was summoned to the Ministry of External Affairs and a demarche was made lodging strong protest at the fatal casualties of Indian soldiers during an attempted cross-border infiltration on October 21 by Pakistani terrorists in Sunderbani sector in Jammu and Kashmir,” the Ministry said in a statement.
“It was informed that two Pakistani armed intruders have been killed by the Indian security forces during the ensuing firefight and the government of Pakistan (should) take custody of the dead bodies of its nationals.
“The ministry condemned in the strongest terms such provocative action by Pakistan, which reveals their complicity in aiding and abetting terrorism and exposes the hollowness of Pakistan’s deceitful claims to promote constructive engagement and desire for peace,” the statement said.
The Ministry statement also said that India shared its grave grave concern at the continuing incidents of unprovoked ceasefire violations by the Pakistan forces along the LoC and the International Border (IB).
“Despite repeated calls for restraint and adherence to the ceasefire understanding of 2003 for maintaining peace and tranquillity, Pakistan forces have carried out 1,591 incidents of unprovoked ceasefire violations along the LoC and IB in 2018 so far.
“Pakistan was called on to abide by its bilateral commitment not to allow any territory under its control to be used to support terrorism against India in any manner,” the statement said.
Note:
1. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of PGurus.
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Pakistan has the mindset that ‘Muslims are superior- hence their army is better’. India will win this war through attrition. Attach on all fronts quietly, repeated surgical strikes, sinking ships and patrol boats (an informal blockade of Karachi), continuous across the border shelling into civilians on Paki side (their side of border is very heavily populated), sabotage in Pakistan (Gligit, Baluchistan, Punjab, Karachi) is needed. The nation of Porkistan will not learn by talks. Do what the Americans did to Russia setup an arms race they can’t win, support insurgency and create explosions all over.
It would be most astonishing and utterly humiliating for an army that boast of being the worlds 2nd largest and 4th most powerful to be the whipping boy of a nation such as Pakistan. Surely this news of Indian Jawans being killed, although true, cannot be reflective of the real situation on the ground. Indian Army is unable to tell the story of the damage inflicted to the Pakistani military simply because of the way global diplomacy is built upon. I just cannot imagine the Indian army not acting against Pakistan for damage inflicted and lost of life. Surely retaliation would be in order but more importantly Pakistani army must be under some constant unreported attack by Indian forces that they choose to strike at India and sometimes succeed like this latest attack. I believe that the Indian military is constantly on an offensive-defensive mode and is inflicting huge damage on the Pakistani army but unfortunately the Pakistanis will never report it for lost of face.
All the rhetoric of bjp finishing off pakistan in 2013 before they came into power was all kite flying indeed. Come on show some nerve of steel guys.
In the light of the recent exposure of the well established and flourishing corruption racket in the CBI (and all police and enforcement or vigilance establishments in the country), one is afraid if the the NSA is alive to the danger of any complacency at least on the defence scenario.