In the backdrop of a spike in ceasefire violations by Pakistan on the Line of Control (LOC) and infiltration bids into Kashmir, Army Chief General MM Naravane will review the situation on the border during his one-day visit to the Valley on Thursday. His visit also comes days after five elite commandos were killed in a hand-to-hand fight with as many terrorists in Keran sector. All the terrorists were also killed.
The Army Chief’s visit comes at a time when on the one hand the entire world including India are fighting the coronavirus pandemic and on the other, the Pakistan Army is determined to up the ante on the LOC as evident from the hike in the number of ceasefire violations in the last two months.
With summer setting in and making it easier for the militants to negotiate the ingress routes so far blocked by snow coupled with the fact that the Pakistan Army and ISI are desperate to foment trouble in Kashmir, the Army chief will take stock of the operational preparedness of the anti-infiltration and anti-terrorist grid.
Besides fine-tuning the strategy to meet the upcoming challenge in his meetings in Srinagar with the commanders of the 15 Corps responsible for fighting terrorism in the Kashmir Valley, Naravane is also likely to visit some positions on the LOC, sources said here on Wednesday.
The coming months are crucial for the security forces as it will be the first summer after the abrogation of Article 370 giving special status to Jammu and Kashmir last year. Militants will try to go all out to stoke violence. The Pakistan Army has already stepped up the tempo by relentlessly violating ceasefire on the 750-km long LOC and giving covering fire to the ultras to sneak into the valley.
Nearly 1,144 ceasefire violations between January and March this year have taken place with the highest number of violations (411) being recorded last month. The ongoing month of April has seen more than 60 such violations so far, sources said.
These figures are higher as compared to last two years with 680 violations between January-March in 2019 and 630 in 2018 for the same period, they added. The overall figure for the entire 2018 and 2019 are 1,629 in 2018 and 3,170 last year. This year more than 1,200 ceasefire violations have already taken place.
As regards the anti-terrorist operations, the security forces have killed 41 terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir this year so far compared to 152 terrorists in 2019 and 215 in 2018.
On renewed efforts by Pakistan backed militants to come into the valley from across the LOC, the Army recently carried out precision strikes against terrorist launchpads in the Dudhniyal area in Pakistan occupied Kashmir(POK). The operation was undertaken by the force after a series of ceasefire violations and infiltration attempts by the Pakistan army in the Keran sector.
The action came a few days after the five commandos were killed while battling militants who had infiltrated into the Keran sector in north Kashmir on April one.