After Pakistani firing, Army had retaliated and destroyed Pakistani bunkers last week (File)
New Delhi:
The Army had carried out “pinpointed strikes” on terror launch pads inside Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) in response to Pakistani military’s unrelenting efforts to push maximum number of terrorists into India before the onset of harsh winters, defence sources said today.
The Army said there was no firing or ceasefire violation along the Line of Control (LoC) on Thursday.
Referring to recent attempts of cross-border terrorism, the sources said the “deep state” in Pakistan tried to manage a fine balance between escaping the scrutiny by global anti-terror watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and supporting terrorism with an aim to fuel unrest in Jammu and Kashmir.
The Army said reports that it carried out strikes on Thursday are “based on analysis of the ceasefire violations (CFV) that took place on November 13. There has been no firing or CFV in LoC today”.
Triggering a major flare up, Pakistan resorted to heavy shelling in several areas along the LoC in north Kashmir on Friday. Five Indian soldiers were killed in action and four civilians lost their lives.
The Army then launched a major retaliation, hitting several Pakistani positions with anti-tank guided missiles and artillery guns in which at least eight Pakistani soldiers were killed and 12 others injured.
In the last few weeks, the Pakistani Army has been aggressively targeting civilians along the LoC with indiscriminate firing using heavy-calibre artillery to support infiltration of terrorists into Jammu and Kashmir, sources said.
The sources said intelligence-based targeted strikes are being conducted by the Indian Army to neutralise mostly Pakistani and foreign terrorists, and the collateral damage has been very negligible in these operations.
A new pattern being followed by Pakistan in “inciting” unrest and arming young people in Jammu and Kashmir is to avoid any trace of its involvement due to growing international pressure on it to take action against terror groups operating from its soil, sources said.
“Pakistan has sought to target Indian villagers to send a message to people in the Kashmiri hinterland that to disobey Pakistani diktats and directives on terrorism will prove lethal,” a defence source said.
“Pakistan Army’s actions to exclusively target civilians are countered by Indian Army’s pinpoint strikes on suspected launch pads inside Pakistan-occupied Kashmir,” the source said, adding terrorists who have died in Indian strikes in the area are shown as civilian deaths by Pakistan.
