A Pakistani helicopter on Sunday violated the Indian air space along the line of control (LoC) in Poonch sector, prompting the Indian Air Force to launch 'air sorties' to check the intrusion.
The air space violation was reported hours after Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had launched a scathing attack against Pakistan at the United Nations General Assembly session (UNGA) in New York for harbouring terrorists on its territory and not taking any action against the mastermind of 26/11 Mumbai terror strike.
According to ground reports, soon after the Pakistani helicopter violated the Indian air space in forward area of Gulpur in Poonch 'air sentries' at a forward location engaged it with small arms forcing it to retreat.
Ministry of Defence spokesperson based in Jammu, Lt-Col Devendra Anand issued a statement which said, "the air space violation by the Pakistan helicopter was reported in Poonch sector at about 12.10 p.m on sunday".
According to ground reports, "the Pakistan helicopter hovered over the Indian air space close to the line of control for some time. Official sources, however, claimed it was most likely a civil chopper and was flying very high.
"It was also fired upon by the Indian troops but it managed to retreat inside the Pakistani territory".
According to the bilateral agreement inked in 1991 between India and Pakistan a rotary wing aircraft can not fly within 1 km, fixed wing aircraft ( fighters, bombers and reconnaissance planes) within 10 km of each others airspace.
Following this incident high alert was sounded all along the line of control to prevent any further breach of barbed wire fence to push heavily armed infiltrators inside the Indian territory.