Dawn.com, Muzaffarabad :
An Indian soldier has been captured by the Pakistan army, while Indian soldiers have also been killed in the episode of firing across the Line of Control, it emerged Thursday.
Confusion over the capture of the soldier persists as neither Indian nor Pakistani officials are issuing any official statements on the matter, as yet.
An Indian army official based in New Delhi said, “It is confirmed one soldier from 37 Rashtriya Rifles with weapons has inadvertently crossed over to the Pakistan side of the Line of Control”.
Avoiding connecting the capture to today’s firing incident, he said such incidents of people including civilians crossing the frontier by mistake have happened in the past from both sides. Building a case in favour of India, he added that those who strayed are returned.
“Pakistan has been informed [of the soldier’s crossing] through the DGMO on hotline,” ANI News quoted Indian Army sources as saying. Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United Nations Dr Maleeha Lodhi, while talking to Al Jazeera, confirmed that Pakistan Army has “captured an Indian soldier who was trying to enter” into Pakistani territory. Lodhi, however, denied that there was any surgical strike inside the territory of Pakistan, as claimed by the Indian forces. “India is trying to divert global attention from the war crimes it is committing in occupied Kashmir, where more than a 100 people have been killed in cold-blood by Indian forces,” said the Pakistan’s ambassador. She said that India is trying to provoke a conflict with Pakistan to calm its domestic opinion, because even India’s domestic opinion is questioning its role in Kashmir. “My country [Pakistan] has exercised maximum restraint in the face of what happened in the early hours of Thursday.”
“What we saw on Thursday was cross border shelling, by mortar fire as well as small arms fire. We have captured one Indian soldier who was trying to cross while two Pakistani soldiers were martyred in cross border shelling. But there was no surgical strike inside territory controlled by Pakistan.”
“It is very irresponsible of India to act this way. We want the international community to urge restraint upon India,” she maintained. On Pakistan’s side, two officials based in Chhamb sector said the Indian soldier with weapons was captured at 1330 local time on Thursday.
Separately, security sources confirmed the same to Dawn.com. The sources said a 22-year-old Indian soldier by the name Chandu Babulal Chohan was taken into custody by Pakistani forces. They added that at least eight Indian soldiers were killed. The bodies of the Indian soldiers have not been recovered by the Indian Army from the site of the skirmishes at the LoC. Security sources claim an attempt to recover the bodies by the Indian Army has not been made yet as they fear coming under fire from Pakistan Army troops.
In his show Capital Talk on Geo News, Hamid Mir said that 14 Indian soldiers were killed in two sectors. Defense analyst Major General (Retd) Ijaz Awan, who was on his show, confirmed his claim.
An exchange of fire between Pakistani and Indian LoC troops began at 2:30am and continued till 8:00am in the Bhimber, Hotspring, Kel and Lipa sectors in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, the ISPR statement said.
Meanwhile, TNN from Delhi adds :
In a stunning reprisal for the Uri terror attack that breached decades of self-imposed restraint, India conducted ” surgical strikes ” on seven terrorist “launch pads” across the Line of Control (LoC) in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in the early hours of Thursday. Top government sources said that it was “not possible to immediately quantify” the number of terrorists killed in the strikes carried out by crack Para-Special Forces who simultaneously hit five launchpads located 1.5-6.5 km inside PoK. “According to an initial estimate, as many as 40 to 55 terrorists were killed. But it will take some time to arrive at the approximate number of casualties after the Para-SF teams are properly de-briefed and photographs and videos analysed,” said a source.
A day after the Uri camp attack that left 18 soldiers dead, TOI in its September 19 edition was the first to report that the Army had asked the government to consider “limited but punitive cross-border strikes” to send an unequivocal message to Pakistan.
This is the first time since 1971 that the Indian Army has openly crossed the LoC. Indian troops have engaged in limited action across the border a few times, for instance in 2002 during Op Parakram and later in response to the beheading of a soldier in 2013. PM Modi gave the go ahead for the surgical strikes on Tuesday after a series of briefings in the South Block. But Thursday was different. Unlike earlier engagements, the government and the Army boldly proclaimed they had undertaken a big operation across the LoC and justified it by citing an imminent terror threat.
An Indian soldier has been captured by the Pakistan army, while Indian soldiers have also been killed in the episode of firing across the Line of Control, it emerged Thursday.
Confusion over the capture of the soldier persists as neither Indian nor Pakistani officials are issuing any official statements on the matter, as yet.
An Indian army official based in New Delhi said, “It is confirmed one soldier from 37 Rashtriya Rifles with weapons has inadvertently crossed over to the Pakistan side of the Line of Control”.
Avoiding connecting the capture to today’s firing incident, he said such incidents of people including civilians crossing the frontier by mistake have happened in the past from both sides. Building a case in favour of India, he added that those who strayed are returned.
“Pakistan has been informed [of the soldier’s crossing] through the DGMO on hotline,” ANI News quoted Indian Army sources as saying. Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United Nations Dr Maleeha Lodhi, while talking to Al Jazeera, confirmed that Pakistan Army has “captured an Indian soldier who was trying to enter” into Pakistani territory. Lodhi, however, denied that there was any surgical strike inside the territory of Pakistan, as claimed by the Indian forces. “India is trying to divert global attention from the war crimes it is committing in occupied Kashmir, where more than a 100 people have been killed in cold-blood by Indian forces,” said the Pakistan’s ambassador. She said that India is trying to provoke a conflict with Pakistan to calm its domestic opinion, because even India’s domestic opinion is questioning its role in Kashmir. “My country [Pakistan] has exercised maximum restraint in the face of what happened in the early hours of Thursday.”
“What we saw on Thursday was cross border shelling, by mortar fire as well as small arms fire. We have captured one Indian soldier who was trying to cross while two Pakistani soldiers were martyred in cross border shelling. But there was no surgical strike inside territory controlled by Pakistan.”
“It is very irresponsible of India to act this way. We want the international community to urge restraint upon India,” she maintained. On Pakistan’s side, two officials based in Chhamb sector said the Indian soldier with weapons was captured at 1330 local time on Thursday.
Separately, security sources confirmed the same to Dawn.com. The sources said a 22-year-old Indian soldier by the name Chandu Babulal Chohan was taken into custody by Pakistani forces. They added that at least eight Indian soldiers were killed. The bodies of the Indian soldiers have not been recovered by the Indian Army from the site of the skirmishes at the LoC. Security sources claim an attempt to recover the bodies by the Indian Army has not been made yet as they fear coming under fire from Pakistan Army troops.
In his show Capital Talk on Geo News, Hamid Mir said that 14 Indian soldiers were killed in two sectors. Defense analyst Major General (Retd) Ijaz Awan, who was on his show, confirmed his claim.
An exchange of fire between Pakistani and Indian LoC troops began at 2:30am and continued till 8:00am in the Bhimber, Hotspring, Kel and Lipa sectors in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, the ISPR statement said.
Meanwhile, TNN from Delhi adds :
In a stunning reprisal for the Uri terror attack that breached decades of self-imposed restraint, India conducted ” surgical strikes ” on seven terrorist “launch pads” across the Line of Control (LoC) in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in the early hours of Thursday. Top government sources said that it was “not possible to immediately quantify” the number of terrorists killed in the strikes carried out by crack Para-Special Forces who simultaneously hit five launchpads located 1.5-6.5 km inside PoK. “According to an initial estimate, as many as 40 to 55 terrorists were killed. But it will take some time to arrive at the approximate number of casualties after the Para-SF teams are properly de-briefed and photographs and videos analysed,” said a source.
A day after the Uri camp attack that left 18 soldiers dead, TOI in its September 19 edition was the first to report that the Army had asked the government to consider “limited but punitive cross-border strikes” to send an unequivocal message to Pakistan.
This is the first time since 1971 that the Indian Army has openly crossed the LoC. Indian troops have engaged in limited action across the border a few times, for instance in 2002 during Op Parakram and later in response to the beheading of a soldier in 2013. PM Modi gave the go ahead for the surgical strikes on Tuesday after a series of briefings in the South Block. But Thursday was different. Unlike earlier engagements, the government and the Army boldly proclaimed they had undertaken a big operation across the LoC and justified it by citing an imminent terror threat.
