NEW DELHI: India has to be prepared for escalation in the situation alongthe Line of Control with Pakistan, said Army chief GeneralBipin Rawatlink
on Wednesday.
He claimed that thePakistan link
army continues to attempt BAT (border action team) operations as well asindulge in heavy cross-border firing after J&K’s special status wasabrogated in August.
“The situation along the LoC can escalate any time. We have to be preparedfor the spiraling of the escalatory matrix,” said General Rawat.
The Army is maintaining a high level of operational readiness, withdetailed plans chalked out to cater for different contingencies.
He claimed Army thwarted yet another BAT operation by the Pakistan Army inthe Sunderbani sector along the LoC but lost a soldier while another onewas injured in the heavy exchange of firing on Monday.
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“Pakistan is attempting BAT actions almost every third day. We keep onfoiling them and taking retaliatory action,” said a source.
This has been a particularly violent year along the 778-km LoC, with asmany as 2,900 ceasefire violations (CFVs) also being recorded till now tobreak all annual records since 2003.
The intensity of the cross-border firings, with both sides often deployingheavy mortars, anti-tank guided missiles and artillery guns, firstregistered a major spike after IAF fighters conducted the pre-dawn airstrikes on the major Jaish-e-Mohammed facility at Balakot in theKhyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan on February 26, Times of India hasreported.
Pakistan had retaliated on February 27 by sending a “strike package” of 24fighters, including F-16s, JF-17s and Mirage-5 attack jets, to targetIndian military installations in the Nowshera sector across the LoC, whichincluded a brigade headquarters and an ammunition dump.
