Army issues ‘stern warning’ to Pak; asks it to rein in terrorists

Ajay Banerjee
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, October 22

Having killed armed intruders from Pakistan along  the Line of Control (LoC) in Sunderbani sector of Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday, the Army has issued a ‘stern warning’ to the Pakistan Army asking it to restrain terrorists from operating from its soil.

Sources in New Delhi said since the Director Generals of Military Operations (DGMO) of both sides had spoken in May and agreed to uphold the November 2003 ceasefire, there had been seven infiltration bids foiled by the Army in which 23 terrorists had been killed. 

The Army has been maintaining utmost restraint to uphold the ceasefire at the LoC despite regular provocative actions from across the border, authorities here claimed.

The Pakistan Army is trying to send terrorists across the border. Army sources cited internal reports to suggest that a large number of terrorists were waiting at launch pads in the Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) desperate to infiltrate before the onset of snow. 

Also, the Pakistan Army has been informed through established communication channels to take the bodies of the hostile Pakistani nationals killed at the LoC on Sunday, sources said.

Two of the intruders were wearing combat fatigues. ‘Established communication channels’ is a military term for existing telephonic contacts that connect military commanders on either side.

Around 1.30 pm on Sunday, five to six Pakistani armed intruders crossed the LoC and fired at an Army patrol in the Sunderbani sector of Jammu region. Three Army jawans were killed and another was injured in the unprovoked cross-border action by Pakistan. During the ensuing crossfire two intruders were killed. Their identity could not be ascertained, sources in the Army said.