Punitive strikes in POK come within week of Pak Army shelling Poonch military station
The Indian Army on Monday retaliated “strongly” to Pakistan’s ceasefire violation by carrying out “punitive” strikes on Pakistan Army’s brigade headquarters opposite Poonch sector in general area of Hajira in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK).
According to ground reports, the Pakistan Army suffered heavy damages in the area. But till the time of filing the report, the exact scale of damage was not known.
Local residents of border villages reported that they could see smoke emanating from the Pakistan Army’s administrative unit headquarters.
The Indian Army sent the strong signal to Pakistan in response to Pak Army’s firing of stray shells on Poonch and Jhallas on October 23, 2018.
Poonch-based Brigade headquarters of the Indian Army had come attack for the first time on October 23 after 1997.
Ministry of Defence spokesman in Jammu had claimed, “Pakistan Army had used recoilless gun (Rcl) with a calibre of 105/106 mm to target the Poonch brigade headquarters.”
Sources said while giving befitting reply, the Indian Army exercised maximum restraint despite continuous provocation by the Pakistan Army.
The thickly populated civilian areas on the other side of the line of control namely Hajira tehsil, Bandi, Gopalpur, Nikial, Samani and Khuiratta were not targeted in the retaliatory firing.
A huge population of ex-servicemen of the Pakistan Army and retired Government servants are settled in the area against the wishes of the local population.
The Indian Army had earlier undertaken “surgical strikes” in September 2016 to demolish terrorist launch pads across LoC in POK in response to Pakistan-sponsored terrorist strikes in Uri and Nagrota in Jammu & Kashmir.
Meanwhile, in Jammu K Vijay Kumar, Adviser to J&K Governer visited BSF Frontier headquarters in Paloura Camp Jammu and International Border in Samba/Kathua Sector to take stock of the operational preparedness in prevailing security scenario.
ADG BSF Western Command, Kamal Nayan Choubey, Ram Awtar IG BSF Jammu Frontier also attended the security review meeting and gave a detailed operational briefing and assessment on the threat perception and the various measures undertaken by BSF to strengthen the Border domination grid.
After the briefing, K Vijay Kumar visited BOPs Londi (Tapan) and Katao as well as Tarna and Bein Nallahs to see for himself the border domination on ground.