The Indian Army has ‘uncovered’ the ‘strategic’ blueprint of the Pakistan Army to dodge the Indian troops in the garb of ‘civilian’ houses constructed on the line of Control to target the forward Indian positions, facilitate infiltration of trained militants through ‘camouflaged’ launch pads and accommodate members of the specialised Border Action Team (BAT) for carrying out surgical strikes inside the Indian territory.
By provoking the Indian troops the Pakistan Army is also scheming to drag the Indian Army before the International community by highlighting the targeting of the civilian areas on their side of the line of Control.
According to intelligence reports, “The Indian Army has detected use of civilian houses raised in the vicinity of dense clusters by the Pakistan Army to position their medium to long range guns for targeting the forward Indian positions and facilitate infiltration of trained militants along the loC in Poonch”.
As border skirmishes escalated between the two neighbouring countries in the aftermath of cross border raid in which five Indian soldiers were killed in Poonch on August 6, 2013 the Indian Army witnessed ‘unusual’ pattern of broad daylight firing from across the loC in which several civilian areas and strategic positions of the Indian Army came under attack.
As the Indian troops joined the dots and extrapolated the line of fire inside the Pakistani territory it came to know that none of the fortified bunkers of the Pakistan Army existed in the area.
Instead the fire power was sourced to civilian structures frequented by the Pakistan Army regulars in several forward villages. Following strong India's retaliation, the Pak Army had directed the civilian population to shift to safer places and was occupying several houses located strategically to dodge the Indian gun positions.
The civilian areas opposite Balakote and Mendhar sector in Poonch district first of all came on the radar of the Indian troops as the area had witnessed maximum incidents of ceasefire violations during the same period. As many as 70 violations have been reported in the area since August 6 flare-up.
Unconfirmed reports also claimed that a sizeable number of infiltrators had managed to slip inside the Indian Territory during the heavy exchange of firing in the recent weeks and a manhunt has been launched by the Army to track them down in the dense forest area before they reach their hideouts to execute their terror plans.
After collecting comprehensive evidence on ground zero and studying the movement of Pak Army troops, range of firing from different calibre of weapons during different time of the day, the Indian Army was able to identify certain civilian structures which had come up recently along the loC and were occupied by the Pak Army regulars at the time of exchange of firing.
According to official sources, "Armed with specific inputs the Indian Army was able to silence guns fitted inside these civilian structures in retaliatory firing". However, several similar structures continue to be occupied by the Pak army regulars and it is cause of concern for the Indian Army.
"We fear targeting them as they are located in civilian areas where houses are densely populated and any mishit may provide a handle to the Pak Army to launch their propaganda against the Indian Army," a field officer of the Indian army in Poonch said.
The adjoining structures were apparently used by the Pak Army personnel to accommodate trained militants before pushing them inside the Indian Territory during the heavy exchange of firing, sources said. "The possibility of presence of BAT teams inside these structures also cannot be ruled out," sources said.