New Delhi, March 11

Two weeks after the airstrikes on the Jaish-e-Mohammed camp at Balakot in Pakistan, forces remain on high alert. Beneath the calm is a strain of tension. The armed forces — the Army, Navy and the IAF — on both sides remain on alert.

Today, when Lt Gen KJS Dhillion spoke in Srinagar and answered questions on firing from across the Line of Control (LoC), he summed up the underlying reality. “Pakistan is targeting our civilian areas as it has not been able to hit us. We have hit military targets,” he told the media.

On both sides there are daily alarms about air intrusion by UAVs. “That these are being detected and targeted means surveillance is at an all-time high,” said a senior officer, adding the UAVs were largely used to study movements in particular areas.

Air defence guns have been used to shoot down such UAVs. The navies have been constantly patrolling and the air force of both sides are flying air patrols, even as radar pictures and satellites are being used to track movement. The Army Chiefs of both countries have been visiting respective units on their own side.

Army Chief General Bipin Rawat has asked formations “to ensure readiness and be prepared to decisively deal with emerging challenges that may develop”. The General has been briefed on readiness of the Western Command as also the Northern Command. He has already visited the formations around Samba in Jammu and Kashmir, or locations north of ‘Shakargarh Bulge’.

Pitched battles have been fought in the past in these areas and also areas where the Ravi and the Satluj run a zig-zag course dividing the two Punjabs on both sides.

The Army Chief has been interacting with troops in the forward locations. He has “expressed complete confidence in the Indian Army’s capabilities to thwart any nefarious design of the enemies of the country and handle any situation”.