Pak soldiers infiltrated thrice in last one year

NEW DELHI, Mar 6: Pakistani soldiers have thrice infiltrated into the Indian territory in Jammu and Kashmir in the last one year, including the incident where they killed two Indian soldiers along the LoC in January, Defence Minister A K Antony informed the Rajya Sabha today.

In a written reply, the Minister said in one instance, two soldiers of the Myanmar Army were held in Champhai sector in Mizoram and were handed over to the state police for further action.

Giving details of instances of infiltration by Pakistani soldiers, Antony said that “on July 11, 2012, one Pakistani soldier was apprehended in Poonch sector by the Indian Army and was handed over to Pakistan at flag meeting between the two forces.”

“On February 14, 2013, one Pakistani soldier was killed while attempting infiltration in Naushera sector. His dead body was handed over to Pakistani authorities,” he said.

On the beheading incident, he said a Pakistan Border Action Team ambushed an Indian Army patrol party in Krishna Ghati sector resulting in death of two soldiers of which one was beheaded.

Meanwhile, answering a query on modernisation of the Army, the Defence Minister said 30 battalions (around 30,000 troops) would be raised in the 12th Defence Plan period to enhance the combat capability of the force.

“Mobility of Infantry is proposed to be enhanced through introduction of superior vehicles with better cross country mobility. The budgetary allocation for capital acquisition for modernisation of Army during Financial Year 2012-2013 is Rs.13724.14 crore,” he said. (AGENCIES)