Will hit back if Pak violates ceasefire again: Army officer

Jammu, Jan 16: India has said that it will not tolerate more

violations by

and asked its troops along the Line of Control (LoC) in

to retaliate immediately in case any unprovoked firing took place across the border.

General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C) of the Northern Command, Lt General KT Parnaik, while speaking at Northern Command's investiture ceremony on the occasion of Army Day, near Akhnoor Tuesday, revealed India's stern stand on the issue.

He said three ceasefire violations by Pakistan took place in the Krishna Ghanti area even after the two sides talked at a flag meeting on Monday. He said India reserved the right to retaliate at the place and time it chose if Pakistan did not stop its acts of ceasefire violation.

Lt General Parnaik said India did not respond to the fresh violations reported in Mendhar, Balnoi and Uri for they were not effective. He said the Indian Army had several options to choose from and would not react hastily. He said the sacrifices made by Hemraj and Sudhakar Singh, the two Indian soldiers who were killed by Pakistani troops in Mendhar last week and their bodies mutilated, would not go waste.

He, however, ruled out the possibility of a full-fledged war with Pakistan, saying the latter would not want another front with India particularly when its domestic situation is very volatile at the moment. He said India, too, was not interested in having a war with Pakistan.

He also ruled out the possibility of China interfering in the latest dispute despite the fact that its presence has increased in the Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. The army officer said although the People's Liberation Army has been working on various infrastructure projects, there is no information that it is arming the Pakistanis with weapons.

The Lt Gen said the Pakistani troops were firing at the Indians from behind residential areas and a retaliation from the Indian side would have caused casualties. He echoed Army Chief Bikram Singh to say that the sudden rise in infiltration from the Pakistani side shows the growing frustration of Islamabad over failing to push in the militants. He said there were nearly 2,500 terrorists in 43 training camps across the LoC and several of them were waiting for an opportunity to enter India.

OneIndia News