Fayaz Bukhari
Srinagar, Sept 3: Pakistani troops today violated ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) in North Kashmir’s Kupwara district. However, there was no loss of life.
“The Pakistani troops resorted to unprovoked firing on our forward posts along the LoC in Karnah sector in Kupwara today,” an Army official said.
He said the Pakistani troops fired upon the forward posts of Army at midnight and continued the firing till early hours of the morning. “The firing was effectively retaliated by the troops during which forward posts of Pakistani troops were targeted,” the official said. However, there was no loss of life or damage on either side.
The officer said that Pakistani troops resort to ceasefire violations to facilitate the infiltration of militants into Kashmir. He, however, said that Army is on high alert to foil any infiltration attempt. He added that the security forces launched searches in the area to ensure that no militants infiltrated under the cover of firing by Pakistani troops.
The officer said that there are over 400 militants waiting on the launch pads in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) ready to infiltrate. However, the Army is on high alert to foil their designs. He said that the militant leaders across want infiltration of more and militants before the onset of winter.
It may be mentioned here that around 80 militants have infiltrated into Kashmir this year. However, security forces killed 137 militants this year including top commanders of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and Hizbul Mujahideen and put pressure on the militants who were roaming freely in South Kashmir two months ago.
In the meantime, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), the force dealing with law and order and counter-insurgency cancelled the leaves of all its men who had gone home to celebrate Eidul Azha in South Kashmir. The CRPF cancelled the leaves of its personnel on Friday evening when the local CRPF men had already reached home for celebrating Eid. Some of them, however, returned during night only and others reported back to their camps on Saturday morning.
The leaves were cancelled after inputs that the militants may target the CRPF men who had gone home for Eid celebrations. Sources said that militants who are under pressure from the security forces after ‘Operation All Out’ in which large number of militants were killed are aiming at soft targets.