NEW DELHI : Twenty six Indian army personnel have been killed in attacks by Pakistan Army along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir in the last three years, the Lok Sabha was told today.
26 personnel have been killed from 2010 to August 19 this year in attacks by Pakistan Army attacks along the LoC, Defence Minister A K Antony said in a written reply to a query.
The question on the killing of five Indian soldiers in Poonch sector on August 6 was posed by 22 MPs cutting across party lines.
On the August 6 killings, the Minister said a group of specialist troops of Pakistan Army crossed the Line of Control from Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK) side and attacked a patrol of Indian troops comprising one NCO and five other ranks.
“In the ensuing firefight, five of our brave soldiers were martyred and one soldier was injured,” he said.
Meanwhile, answering another query, the Defence Minister said two officers of the Canteen Stores Department (CSD) were arrested by CBI for illegal gratification.
“Later on, FIRs against two other serving officers and one retired officer were also filed”, he said.
To a query on defence expenditure by China and Pakistan, he said that as per data provided by Swedish think tank SIPRI, China spent USD 157,603 million in 20102 while Pakistan spent USD 6,630 million.
He said China’s expenditure on defence was two per cent of its GDP while Pakistan spent 2.7 per cent of its GDP in this sector.
Answering a query on a Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation’s proposal to build a road passing through defence land there, the Minister said “the Local Military Authority has convened a Board of Officers to holistically assess the project.” (agencies)
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