The jawans of the Indian Army are standing ‘tall’ and ‘safe’ inside well-fortified bunkers to give befitting reply to the Pakistan Army amid heightened tensions along the line of Control (loC).
“We are prepared to face any eventuality and ready to give a befitting reply to any provocation from the Pakistani side”, a senior Army officer told The Pioneer at one of the frontier posts in Nowshera sector from where the Indian Army recently launched its surgical strikes against terrorist launch pads in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir on September 28.
The officer also said that the morale of the “jawans is very high and they are upbeat.”
“We have directed them to hit them hard whenever there is unprovoked firing from across the border,” he said. “We are prepared to give a befitting reply in the language that Pakistan understands,” said a jawan, deployed at the forward post on a hill top.
There is a foolproof security mechanism in place and anti-infiltration measures have also been activated to foil infiltration of militants or any kind of Border Action Team (BAT) attack, the officer said
India had blamed BAT, a mix of Pakistani Special Forces personnel and terrorists, for the brutal killing of its two soldiers in January 2013, one of whom was beheaded, and many other deadly attacks on troops along the loC.
For the last couple of days Pakistan Army has been frequently violating the ceasefire agreement and pounding forward Indian posts and thickly populated civilian areas in frontier Rajouri and Poonch district to further escalate the tension.
Fresh attempts are also being made to push in heavily-armed groups of militants from across the launching pads to execute terror strikes in Jammu region during the long festive season.
To thwart the nefarious designs of Pakistan, the jawans of the Indian Army are maintaining tight vigil along the loC with the help of sophisticated devices including night vision devices (NVD) and body sensors.
The entire loC is lit up during the night while during the day, area domination patrols and sentry posts are maintaining the sanctity of the loC.
The Army officer said, “We have built well-fortified bunkers along the line of Control to ensure safety of our jawans. Due to the quality of the bunkers, our jawans feel safe and stand tall holding their position at the time of hostilities.”
The bunkers are designed to withstand heavy shelling and enemy fire, the officer told The Pioneer.
“Since our jawans feel safe they are retaliating hard and inflicting maximum damage to enemy positions in the area,” the officer said and added that following our firm retaliatory action some of the forward posts and terror launch pads have been vacated by the Pakistan Army and small group of infiltrators.
“The morale of the jawans holding on to their positions is high”. A seasoned soldier who has long experience of defending the forward locations told The Pioneer. “For the last one week I have not stepped out of the bunker as I am holding on to my lMG post along with my fellow soldiers. We are even eating our food inside our bunker and not going to the mess for refreshments,” he added.
The heavy shelling and firing that followed the surgical strikes have resulted in displacement of thousands of border dwellers in Nowshera.
Despite the terrorising explosions from mortar bombs and the rattle of guns, people are reluctant to leave their houses and say they will help the Army.
“We are not leaving our homes despite firing and shelling. We hope that it will also boost the morale of the Army,” S Singh, a Sarpanch of Gandrote, said.
Most of the hamlets located along the loC in Nowshera are home to hundreds of ex-servicemen.
“In case of any shelling and firing, we will put the villagers in safe houses to ensure their safety and security,” an Army officer said.