Pakistan army deliberately provoking strong Indian retaliation

Using snipers, Pak army is trying to get a rise from the Indian Army

July 14, 2017

Sniper deployed at a forward location in the LoC

BAT teams replaced by sharpshooters to target Indian soldiers along LoC

On Wednesday afternoon when Indian army lost two more soldiers due to sniping incidents from across the Line of Control (LoC) in Keran sector of North Kashmir’s Kupwara district. The Indian army commanders immediately moved to stay in a state of high alert.

By targeting Indian soldiers in this manner Pakistan army sent out a clear message of adopting ‘tit for tat’ in response to the punitive Indian strikes deep inside Pakistan territory.

Both these soldiers belonged to 3 JAK Rifles and had recently shifted to the forward location on patrol duties.

By targeting Indian soldiers in this manner Pakistan army sent out a clear message of adopting ‘tit for tat’ in response to the punitive Indian strikes deep inside Pakistan territory.

Security experts also view it as a deliberate attempt to provoke strong Indian retaliation.

Following this sniping incident tension has escalated along the line of control in Kupwara sector.

In Jammu family members of these soldiers sought a firm response from the Indian army to silence Pak guns.The soldiers martyred in the fresh sniping incident were identified as Lance Naik Ranjit Singh and Rifleman Satish Bhagat of Jammu.

Already the Indian army has adopted hot pursuit to flush out terrorists from different parts of Kashmir Valley to restore peace and normalcy in the state.

Meanwhile, continuous exchange of fire along the line of control in Poonch sector had already resulted in heavy causalities on the Pakistan side.

Snipers are treated as ‘force multipliers’ by any infantry battalion.

Instead of responding in the same sector Pakistan army chose to open another front by targeting Indian soldiers using sharpshooters. Earlier, Pak army was resorting to surprise attacks with the help of Border Action Teams comprising special commandos and terrorists.

In the last eight months, more than one dozen Indian soldiers have lost their lives in different sniping incidents.

Earlier on April 18 an Indian soldier deployed at a forward post in Bhimbder Gali area of Poonch was targeted from across the line of control by jawans of Pak army’s 650 Mujahid.

Snipers are used by local commanders as ‘force multipliers’

Snipers are treated as ‘force multipliers’ by any infantry battalion. The high standard of sniper training and their imaginative employment leads to decisive and out-of-proportion results.

Since these snipers remain parked at odd locations close to the forward posts to target enemy positions and patrol parties they enjoy the advantage of striking at will and inflicting maximum injuries.

When border skirmishes peaked in the aftermath of Surgical strikes by the Elite Indian commandos the jawans were even directed to use trenches to move between bunkers across all the forward posts.

In comparison to Indian Army, Pak Army relies more on their team of snipers to target enemy jawans.

These instructions were passed immediately after Indian army had recorded the movement of sharp shooters on the other side of the line of control.

These instructions were given to the post commanders to minimize the risk factor.

Pak army relies more on sniping

In comparison to Indian Army, Pak Army relies more on their team of snipers to target enemy jawans.

According to official sources, not more than 2 snipers are attached with one Batallion deployed along the line of control.

Armed with high precision sniper rifle these sharp shooters are an asset of a unit deployed on the Line of Control.

They have the capacity to shoot a target of 1200 meters away and prevent any physical assault on its own post.

On the other hand snipers of Pak army can target the forward Indian posts from a distance ranging between 1 km to 2 km using their high precision sniper rifles.

In some areas, Pak army soldiers even enjoy the advantage of high altitude and can easily target routine movement of Indian jawans inside their posts.

Chronology of sniping incidents

Sepoy Sudesh Kumar of 6 Rajput was killed by a Pak sniper, a fortnight after the surgical strikes on October 16, 2016. Kumar was on patrol duty along the LoC in Rajouri when he was hit by a sniper.
A week later BSF jawan Gurnam Singh was killed along the International border on October 21. He was shot in the head in Hiranagar sector, Jammu.
Rifleman Sandeep Singh Rawat was hit in the neck, killing him instantly as he stood guard along the fence in the Kupwara sector on November 9, 2016.
On March 9 this year, sepoy Deepak Jagannath Ghadge of Maharashtra died after he was hit by a similar sniper fire by Pakistani troops in Gulpur area of Poonch.
On April 2, a JCO was killed in an IED blast near the LoC in Poonch district. It was suspected that the mine was planted by “rogue” elements from Pakistan inside the Indian territory to inflict casualties.