A day after PMl-N chief Nawaz Sharif invited Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to attend his swearing-in ceremony on May 13, a Border Action Team (BAT) of Pakistani Army breached the line of Control (loC) in Mendhar sector of Poonch and unsuccessfully tried to reenact its beastly act of January 8 — when an Indian soldier was beheaded and another killed in Poonch.
The incident had stirred public furore, after that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had reacted: “It will not be business as usual with Pakistan.”
The Pakistan Army’s mission on May 14 failed as it turned out that the commandos had mistakenly captured a group of Indian porters engaged by the security forces to transport consignments to forward posts in the area.
The Border Security Force (BSF) and Indian Army are deployed in this sector to strengthen the counter insurgency grid. It is learnt that the porters were engaged by the security forces to carry ration to the forward posts when they were accosted by the Pakistani troops.
According to highly placed sources, “On May 14, commandos of the Pakistan Army had ambushed a group of porters inside the Indian territory in Mendhar sector of Poonch and overpowered them taking advantage of the undulating terrain.”
However, the commandos realised that they were not regular soldiers of the Indian Army, official sources said. The Pakistani troops tortured the porters to extract information from them about Indian troop movement in the area. Before returning to their territory, the Pakistani troops let off the porters, officials said.
Sources maintained that the commandos had also verified the identity cards of the porters issued to them by the Indian security forces.
A senior officer of the counter insurgency grid in Jammu confirmed to The Pioneer, “A group of Indian porters were captured near the loC and were tortured by
the commandos of the
Pakistan Army.”
The Army Headquarters in New Delhi, however, denied that such an incident took place in Mendhar sector.
Highly placed sources also confirmed that ever since the incident was reported in the area the porters have not been allowed to return home from the forward area. They continue to be in the safe custody of the security forces in the forward posts near the loC, sources added.