NEW DELHI – India and Pakistan have been engaged in a serious borderescalation since a cross border aerial strike by the Indian Air Force inFebruary. The two arch-rivals have deployed their troops and militaryequipment at forward bases to retaliate in case of a misadventure by eitherside.
The Indian Army has decided to deploy around 200 armoured fighting vehiclesequipped with locally developed anti-tank guided missiles in the country’sPunjab and Rajasthan regions. These are set to boost the army’scapabilities, as it can operate in terrain interspersed with rivers andcanals.
“Armoured vehicles will be deployed in plain region bordering Pakistan”, anofficial on Friday confirmed. The 8×8 wheeled armoured vehicles will have aminimum cruising range of 500 km on road and 250 km in a region with riversor canals.
For the vehicle’s protection, two long-range anti-tank guided missile(ATGM) launchers will be available.
The Indian Army also asked manufacturers to provide a man-portable groundanti-tank guided missile launcher in addition to the vehicle-mounted ATGM.30mm cannon with 7.62mm coaxial machine gun will also be available for thecrew.
The vehicle is also capable of detecting all types of chemical, biological,and nuclear contamination.
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The development comes against the backdrop of an escalation in tensionsbetween India and Pakistan after the Pulwama terrorist attacklinkinKashmir in which over 40 Indian security personnel were killed by apurportedly Pakistan-based terrorist organisation called Jaish-e-Mohammed.
The escalations reached a near war-like situation after a cross borderaerial strike by the Indian Air Force in the Balakot area inside PakistanlinkinFebruary this year.
For the past four months, a huge deployment of forces took place in thewestern sector after Pakistan threatened India with massive retaliation inthe wake Jammu and Kashmir’s special status being revoked by New Delhi.
