General Officer in Command (North) lt Gen KT Parnaik has confirmed that after the ‘barbaric’ beheading of an Indian Army soldier on January 8 in the Mendhar sector, the line of Control (loC) was once again breached by a group from the Pakistani side in Saujian sector on May 14.
According to him, the infiltrators managed to intercept a group of Indian porters inside Indian territory at an altitude of 10,000 feet above sea level. They were manhandled and threatened with dire consequences if they continued to transport essential supplies for Indian soldiers. Indian Army headquarters had initially denied any such incident when The Pioneer had reported on May 23.
However, he confirmed the incident when asked about it by The Pioneer at a Press conference on Monday. Parnaik, however, avoided a direct reply on the identity of the infiltrators. Asked whether they were Pakistan Army regulars, the GOC-in-C said, “Only porters have seen them. No one has shot their pictures.” He added that no one was killed or kidnapped at the time.
The worrisome part is how the infiltrators managed to reach those positions at all, after negotiating dense jungles and undulating terrain, according to Parnaik. He admitted the terrain favours infiltration, though quickly adding that lessons had been learnt and advance warning system deployed. “We have increased regular patrolling in the area and improved our area domination to plug infiltration routes,” the GOC-in-C said.
‘No compromise at DBO, ladakh’
Jammu: Northern Army Commander lieutenant General KT Parnaik on Monday for the first time clarified that the Indian Army had not compromised on its defences or dismantled any structures at the time of resolving the face-off with China in the Daulat Beg Oldi sector of ladakh.
He said, “Disengagement and de-escalation at Depsang/DBO was done without any compromise. No structures were dismantled by us.”
Parnaik also said it was too early to comment on the situation between India and Pakistan. “It is better we adopt a wait & watch policy over statements made by the Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif,” he added, pointing out that intelligence agencies, Army and others enjoy clout over the Government there.
He maintained that terrorist infrastructure remained intact across the border and their intention was to somehow revive the graph of militancy in Kashmir.