With Pakistan continuing to violate ceasefire on the 750-km-long Line of Control (LoC), Army Chief General Bipin Rawat said here on Wednesday situation can escalate at any time. He, however, said "we are prepared for a response along the retaliatory matrix."
His observation came in the backdrop of increase in ceasefire violations in the last couple of days with the Army even foiling a Border Action Team(BAT)raid by Pakistan in Sunderbani in Jammu region on Monday. An Indian soldier died after getting hit by a rocket and two Pakistani commandos also reportedly died in retaliatory fire. Another Indian soldier died a day earlier in Gurez in North Kashmir in ceasefire violation by Pakistan.
Moreover, Rawat's statement came amid reports of ceasefire violations and increased firing at the LOC since August after abrogation of Article 370 giving special status to Jammu and Kashmir and split the state into two union territories.
Ever since the abrogation of Jammu and Kashmir's special status under Article 370, as many as 190 stone pelting incidents have been reported in Kashmir Valley with 250 people involved in them being currently in jails.
The seriousness of the situation can be gauged from the fact that more than 950 incidents of ceasefire violations were reported along the LOC between August and October. The overall figure for the entire last year was 1,700. The current figure for the entire year as regards ceasefire violation has already crossed the 2,000 mark.
There have been a total 171 attempts of infiltration from across the border to Jammu and Kashmir this year till October and 114 of them were successful, a senior home ministry official said.
Of the total "successful" infiltration bids, 59 were since August -- seven in October, 20 in September and 32 in August. There had been 143 successful infiltrations in 2018, 136 in 2017 and 119 in 2016.
Also, there were a total of 544 incidents of stone pelting so far in 2019 and 190 of them have taken place since August 5 when Article 370 provisions were abrogated.
Till December 8, altogether 356 people from Jammu and Kashmir were in jail and 250 of them were stonepelters, the official said adding there were 802 incidents of stone pelting in the Valley in 2018.
The official said the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) has so far procured 15.49 lakh MT of apples from the valley and is targeted to procure a total of 22.5 lakh MT by March-end.
NAFED procured 22.5 lakh MT apples during last fiscal. The authorities have set up 280 e-terminals in 10 districts of Kashmir Valley, another official said.
Meanwhile, the central government has sanctioned Rs 4,000 crore to UT of Ladakh for various development work.