For every action, there will be more than double the retaliation. This is the Army’s action-plan against Pakistan which is unrelenting in its provocation by targeting civilian areas on the Indian side. But the Indian Army will “not target” Pakistan’s civilian areas, despite anticipating “no let-up” in the current escalation in ceasefire violations.
Adhering to the ground rule of not hitting populated areas, the forces, however, will target Pakistan military establishment along the International Border (IB) and the line of Control (loC). In fact, the Army did so hours after terrorists along with Pakistan Army commandoes mutilated the body of an Indian soldier in Kupwara on Friday last week.
The Army targeted at least four Pakistan Army posts in Keran sector in Kupwara as these posts reportedly provided covering fire to the group which infiltrated and mutilated the body of the Indian soldier. The retaliatory action by the Indian Army led to loss of several lives besides leaving several others injured, sources said here on Tuesday.
Elaborating upon the action plan, they said the message has to go across that the Indian Army will not tolerate barbaric acts like mutilation and the reprisal will be swift and harsh. The same dictum was followed all along the loC wherever Pakistan Army had increased ceasefire violations to take revenge for the surgical strikes against terrorist launch pads in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) on September 29.
In fact, more than 65 violations had taken place in the last month, they said adding more than 50 per cent of such violations this year took place after the surgical strikes. The overall number of violations stood at 130 as compared to 150 for the entire last year, officials said and admitted the number will go up in the coming weeks.
Apprehending that there will be no “let up” in the current surge in ceasefire violations, they said the escalation graph was only going up. Giving an example, officials said Rajouri sector in Jammu division had seen non-stop firing for the last one day with Pakistan Army firing 81 mm mortars, medium and light machine guns. The arc of violations in this sector alone spread from 35 to 40 km thereby forcing the Indian Army to hit back hard, they said.
On Pakistan targeting civilian areas along the International Border and some parts of the lOC, officials said the Indian Army will never hit populated areas. Instead, it wants to give a stern message to Pakistan Army by attacking its posts along the loC to refrain from providing launch pads to terrorists and covering fire to them when they try to sneak into the Indian territory.
Meanwhile, the Army was further strengthening its forward posts along the loC as they are vulnerable to attacks by Border Action Teams(BAT) of terrorists and Special Services Group(SSG) Commandos of Pakistan Army. Mutilation of the Indian soldier last week was carried out by one such BAT team.