By IANS,
New Delhi : Indian Army chief General Deepak Kapoor Friday accused Pakistan of violating the ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir to enable terrorists to sneak into India.
General Kapoor said the ceasefire violations at the LoC were “diversionary tactics” meant to enable terrorists to cross into India.
“Ceasefire violations have increased because this enables infiltration to be carried out when the firing is on and (it) can be used as a diversionary tactic,” Kapoor told reporters here.
“Their attempt is to infiltrate more and more people during ceasefire violation. But we understand their tactics and take appropriate steps,” he added.
The first casualty during a ceasefire breach this year at LoC, which divides Jammu and Kashmir between India and Pakistan, happened Sep 1 when an Indian soldier was killed in Poonch district in Pakistani firing.
Kapoor termed the unprovoked firing a “diversionary tactic” to sneak in terrorists.
India and Pakistan agreed to a ceasefire on LoC in November 2003. Defence Minister A.K. Antony recently disclosed in parliament that 110 incidents of ceasefire violation had taken place along the LoC since 2006.
Gen Kapoor refused to say if the ceasefire violations had the backing of Pakistan’s leadership.
“That only the Pakistani leadership can tell,” he said. “But as far as we
are concerned, whenever a ceasefire violation will take place, we will take retaliatory action.
“We try to exercise maximum restraint but if ceasefire violations continue to happen, we will have to retaliate at some stage,” he said.
As another fierce battle raged between security forces and a group of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militants in Reasi district, the general said that attempts were being made to disrupt peace in the Kashmir Valley.
“This period is critical as we have a peaceful valley… Attempts will be made from across the border to try and disrupt that and push in as many infiltrators as possible before the winter sets in,” he said.
He added that the army had put up a “multi-tier” defence system to check infiltration at the LoC.
There has been a surge in incidents of infiltration. Soldiers foiled an infiltration bid in Gurez sector Wednesday, killing five men attempting to cross over from Pakistan.