Says government has failed to provide facilities promised to kin of martyrs

Surinder Kaur holds the Sena Medal awarded to her husband Havildar Kashmir Singh while her daughter carries his picture at the DC office in Ludhiana on Monday. Tribune Photo: Himanshu Mahajan

Gurvinder Singh

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, October 17

A war widow returned her husband’s medal in protest against the government’s failure to provide facilities promised to the kin of jawans who laid down their lives in Sri Lanka in 1987. Surinder Kaur, wife of Army Havildar Kashmir Singh of Gurdaspur, who attained martyrdom as part of the Indian Peace Keeping Force during Operation Pawan in Sri Lanka, submitted her husband’s Sena Medal and a letter addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to an official to be handed over to Modi during his visit to the city tomorrow.She said her son was only eight years old and her daughter six years old when her husband attained martyrdom. She couldn’t see the body of her husband as it never reached India, she lamented.Twenty jawans of 13 Sikh Light Regiment, in addition to commandos, were killed when they were para-dropped at Jaffna University in an attempt to take control of Jaffna from the LTTE.She said her husband was conferred Sena Medal posthumously in 1991. It was announced by the government that kin of the Indian Army jawans, who were gunned down in Sri Lanka, would be given 10 acres of land, a petrol station or an agency apart from a government job to one member of the each family, she claimed. “I received official letters and made to do the rounds of offices in Gurdaspur and Amritsar. The officials concerned said the matter concerned the other district,” she said, with tears rolling down her eyes. She said if the government couldn’t look after the family of the martyr who laid down his life for the country, there was no point keeping the medal.Satnam Singh Dhaliwal, president of the Universal Human Rights Organisation, said the government had given facilities to the family of Indian spy Sarabjeet, who died in Pakistan jail, but had been indifferent to the brave soldiers who laid down their lives during the Army operation in Sri Lanka.  Meanwhile, Swati Tiwana, Assistant Commissioner, said she asked the family to reconsider the decision to return the medal. She said they would check out with the Gurdaspur administration and look into the matter.

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 15

The agreement between India and Russia on military equipment purchase is being tipped as a “game-changer” as it further cements the five-decade-old ties between the two nations.The outcome of the Narendra Modi-Vladimir Putin bilateral meeting in Goa this afternoon will be read with keen interest among military observers in China, Pakistan, the US, Japan and Europe.Set to cost $5 billion (Rs 39,000 crore), “S-400 Triumf” air defence missiles are mounted on road mobile launchers and carried by specialised trucks. The missile system includes multi-layered radars capable of tracking 300 targets such as missiles, planes, drones, helicopters and shoot down around three dozen simultaneously. It can hit incoming airborne targets between 20 km and 400 km — a rarity to have such vast range mated in a single missile system. It can also hit target at an altitude of 55 km. With inter-continental missiles (having more than 5,500 km range) travelling at 70-80 km altitude, this can come in handy for the defence forces. Russia deployed the missile system during the attack launched on the Islamic State in Syria a few months ago.The Kamov 226T helicopter will allow pilots to fly to the Siachen glacier or similar altitudes across the Himalayas much safely and with greater load carrying capacities. At least 200 of the twin-engine Kamov — a light utility helicopter — will be produced. These will cost $1 billion (Rs 6,800 crore).The helicopters will be deployed for surveillance, dropping small loads and for rescue, including of troops posted at high altitudes such as the Siachen Glacier-Saltoro Ridge region. It has a flight ceiling of 18,700 feet — meaning it can fly over almost all of the Himalayan passes with ease. It will be made in India by public sector Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). Admiral Grigorovich-class (Project 11356) stealth frigates will replace the three Godavari-class frigates that the Navy has. One of these has been de-commissioned while the other two are on their way out. The “Yantar” shipyard in Russia made six of these between 2003 and 2013. Of the four more, two are ready in Russia and will have a Ukrainian engine. The deal had been held up due to frosty relations between Russia and Ukraine. Two others will be made at an Indian shipyard.

Vijay Mohan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 12

A ‘super review’ of the Border Roads Organisation’s (BRO) task force responsible for maintaining the strategic Manali-Sarchu road in Himachal Pradesh has revealed huge difference between targets and achievements, besides raising several other audit objects.The report says that the achievements in road surfacing and bridge construction were as low as 20.83 per cent and 13.05 per cent, respectively, in the past three years. In a particular year, despite targets no road re-surfacing was done.On the other hand, there have also been instances where the task force was able to deliver more than its stipulated target in bridge construction and road formation. The super review report, which has also raised some other audit issues, was finalised in August and covers three fiscals from 2013-14 to 2015-16. BRO’s Project Deepak is responsible for construction and maintenance of strategic roads in Himachal. The Manali-Sarchu road is part of the Manali-Leh highway that provides an alternate link to Ladakh. The part of the highway lying in Ladakh is looked after by a different BRO project.It has also been observed that works sanctioned in 1989 to upgrade a stretch of the road was to be completed in 1992, but 24 years later the progress of the job is 75 per cent. A permanent 100-metre bridge over Chandra river sanctioned in 2008 was supposed to be complete by 2012, but till March 2016, only 13.64 per cent work has been completed. Several other bridge and road construction works have been delayed by several years beyond their target dates.Expenditure to the tune of Rs 928.15 lakh has been rendered infructuous on account of five works being foreclosed due to various technical and administrative reasons. In 14 cases, the review has pointed out heavy mismatch between physical progress and financial expenditure.
Read more at http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/nation/bro-fails-to-meet-deadline-on-strategic-manali-leh-highway/308780.html#qOuyA9Gf1MM5zdTB.99

The strike was codenamed ”Operation Ginger”. — Repersentational photo

New Delhi, October 9

The Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress on Sunday indulged in a war of words after it emerged that the Indian Army conducted a deadly surgical strike on Pakistan’s military outposts in 2011 as well.Codenamed ‘Operation Ginger’, the strike is said to be the deadliest cross-border operation in which at least eight Pakistani soldiers were killed and several others fatally injured by Indian commandos.(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

Congress spokesman Sanjay Jha said: “It is an insult to the army and the defence establishment to say that such surgical strikes (September 29) never happened before. It is only that the then Manmohan Singh government never publicised such strikes because it was not consistent with our policy.”He said it was the responsibility of the media, the Congress and everyone else to expose the “brazen lies propagated by the ruling party (BJP) for political advantage”. On the other hand, the BJP said no covert military operation of the magnitude of the September 29 strikes had been done before.”The surgical strike was done by the army. But Prime Minister Narendra Modi provided the leadership and comfort to the army to conduct a strike of this magnitude,” BJP spokesman Syed Zafar Islam said.He said the Congress was feeling insecure due to the rising popularity of the Modi government.Operation Ginger: When Indian Army killed 8 Pak soldiersAs per a new report published on Sunday, a deadly surgical strike by the Indian Army in Pakistani territory in 2011 left at least eight Pakistani soldiers dead, with three of them decapitated.Details regarding the tit-for-tat attack that took place in the summer of 2011 have come out amid heightened India-Pakistan tensions marked by an Indian surgical strike on September 29.The Hindu newspaper citing confidential official documents, video and photographic evidences said India and Pakistan carried out “two of the bloodiest cross-border surgical strikes” killing 13 soldiers.Five of the slain soldiers were decapitated. The Pakistani soldiers took away the heads of two Indian soldiers and left behind a third badly wounded who died in hospital, the daily said.In the revenge attack, Indian soldiers brought back heads of three Pakistani soldiers, the Hindu said.Major General SK Chakravorty (retired), who planned and executed the operation as the chief of Kupwara-based 28 Division, confirmed the Indian raid but refused to discuss details.According to the newspaper, Pakistani raiders struck a remote army post in Gugaldhar in Kupwara district in Jammu and Kashmir on July 30, 2011.The attackers returned with the heads of Havildar Jaipal Singh Adhikari and Lance Naik Devender Singh of 20 Kumaon. A soldier of the 19 Rajput, who reported the attack, died in a hospital.In revenge, the Indian Army planned “Operation Ginger” — which, the daily said, turned out to be one of the deadliest cross-border raids across the LoC.The Indian operation was planned to precision. Seven reconnaissance — physical and air surveillance mounted on UAV — missions were carried out to identify vulnerable Pakistani army posts.The mission was finalised to spring an ambush on Police Chowki to inflict maximum casualty.Finally, the Indian troops launched the covert operation on August 30, 2011.About 25 soldiers, mainly Para Commandos, crossed the LoC stealthily. They planted claymore mines around the strike area.Four Pakistani soldiers, led by a Junior Commissioned Officer, walked into the ambush. Mines were detonated, grenades lobbed and they were fired at.One Pakistani soldier fell into a stream that ran below. Indian soldiers chopped off the heads of the other three dead soldiers and also took away their rank insignias, weapons and other personal items.The commandos then planted pressure IED’s beneath one of the bodies, primed to explode when anyone attempted to lift it.Two more Pakistani soldiers rushed in after hearing the explosions. They were killed by a second Indian team waiting near the ambush site.Two other Pakistani army men tried to trap the second team. But a third Indian team covering them killed the Pakistanis, the daily said.While the Indian soldiers were retreating, another group of Pakistani soldiers were spotted moving towards the ambush site. Soon they heard loud blasts, indicating the concealed IEDs had exploded, the report said.According to Indian assessment, at least two to three more Pakistani soldiers were fatally injured in that blast.The operation lasted for about 45 minutes and the Indians headed back across the LoC, carrying the heads of Subedar Parvez, Havildar Aftab and Naik Imran.The severed heads were photographed and buried. Two days later, one of the senior most Generals in the command turned up and ordered the heads to be dug up, burnt and the ashes strewn into Kishenganga river.This was done to do away with all DNA traces, the daily said. — IANS

Lt Gen Asim Bajwa. AFP file

Islamabad, October 7

All communication channels with the Indian military, including the hotline, are open, the Pakistan army has said, even as it accused India of escalating tensions.“The Indian forces violated the Line of Control by fire and then a few hours later they made a false claim about surgical strikes across the Line of Control. We did check everything on ground and found that the claim was absolutely false,” Director-General of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Lt Gen Asim Bajwa said.

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“What we see is that there is more intensified firing along the LoC, and of course, when there is more fire, the situation does escalate. The environment also escalates when there is more rhetoric and more statement and more pronouncements” by the Indian side, Bajwa told China’s state-run Xinhua news agency on Thursday.At least two Pakistani soldiers have been killed while nine others injured in the Indian firing over the past week, the general said.However, the army spokesman emphasised on the importance of resolving the current tension through dialogue.He said contacts between Pakistani and Indian armies are maintained, confirming that the Directors General of the Military Operations had talked over the phone after the “start of the cross-LoC firing”.“All communication channels, including the hotline, between the two militaries are open,” he said, adding that the UN Military Observer Group in Pakistan and India also monitored the situation and reported to its headquarters.India carried out surgical strikes on seven terror launch pads across the LoC on the intervening night of September 28 and 29, with the Army saying it had inflicted “significant casualties” on terrorists preparing to infiltrate from PoK.The strike came just days after the attack by Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed on an Indian army camp in Uri in Kashmir that killed 19 soldiers. PTI

In Punjab’s border belt schools have reopened but people have not been officially told to return home. They are doing it at their own risk. The next time the Union Home Ministry tells the border residents to leave their homes for safer places, it would be taken less seriously. This is dangerous because the next time the threat of war may not be as unreal as it has turned out to be this time. It is amazing how casually an important order resulting in the displacement of lakhs of people in the states bordering Pakistan has been passed even though it has been possibly done in good faith. The BSF says it did not ask for such an order. There was no military deployment along the border. After Pakistan’s denial on the surgical strikes, chances of a conflict receded. Did the Home Ministry rely on unreliable intelligence and overreact? Was there a political motive?  For the people in the border villages leaving homes at such a short notice is a costly affair. Already their modest financial resources are overstretched in the struggle for survival. In addition, the sudden announcement inflicted on them emotional discomfort. A familiar fear gripped them — the fear of losing all that they had accumulated and built over the years. One order threatened their lifetime savings. None in the administration had a clue about what was going on. None of their elected representatives came to tell them where to go and for how long.When immediately after the surgical strikes Home Minister Rajnath Singh told Parkash Singh Badal to get the border villages vacated, the Punjab Chief Minister did not bother to ask questions. He simply followed the brief diktat. Badal spent the next few days listening to problems of the uprooted as if he had just arrived from another planet. Anyone of his age living in Punjab is familiar with the pain of dislocation and homelessness. Punjabis have suffered the pangs of Partition and experienced the scourge of war. At this hour people need concrete help, not politicians’ visits and questions about their well-being. Followed by photographers, Badal replayed his familiar “sangat darshan” political game.

Special forces across the world keep their operations secret. The euphoria over a ‘kill’ is never celebrated and there is no sense of complacency after an operation ends. National security is a larger concept not based on jingoism or revengeful actions.

The Army’s Sept 28-29 surgical strikes inside Pakistan mark a watershed in our strategy to combat terrorists and their sponsors. Not that such strikes had never happened; this time, a convincing response was well acknowledged. Covert ops are seldom publicized and these have an in-built element of deterrence. Our larger and more significant strategy would be a deeper understanding of the enemy and an ever-vigilant security apparatus. Almost 17 years ago and just six months after the Kargil War, the Indian Army on January 22, 2000, killed 16 Pakistani soldiers after over-running a Pakistani post across the Line of Control (LoC) in the Chhamb sector. The bodies of five Pakistani soldiers were reportedly dragged back by Indian troops and later handed over to the Pakistani Army. This was one of many such attacks carried out from time-to-time by the Indian Army consequent to Islamabad’s continuing proxy war in Jammu and Kashmir. The Pakistani Army, too, has been carrying out similar attacks on Indian positions after crossing the LoC along with enjoying the advantage of having an army of terrorists to whom it routinely outsources terror attacks as it did most recently in Uri.These trans-LoC attacks by both armies stopped for a while after the November 2003 ceasefire came into effect along both the LoC and the Actual Ground Position Line (AGPL) with Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK). But there have been occasions when, even during the current ‘ceasefire’, India has been conducting retaliatory attacks across the LoC such as, for example, in response to the decapitation of two Indian soldiers by the Pakistani Army in January 2013. Indian Army soldiers are reported to have then beheaded between five and ten Pakistani soldiers in response.So what is new about the shallow-distance ‘surgical’ strike carried out in the wee hours of September 29? One, that New Delhi has officially acknowledged what the Indian Army has been doing for many years now. Second, the Army carried out simultaneously coordinated surgical strikes across the LoC at seven launch pads located over an arc of 250 km spread across both the Jammu and the Valley sectors. Third, the attacks were directed specifically against terrorists in their launch pads rather than against the Pakistani Army. In doing so, India has made it publicly known that it has the resolve and capability of crossing the LoC to strike at terrorists who Pakistan officially denies supporting. 

Some questions

Last Thursday’s action gives rise to three questions. First and foremost, how qualitatively and quantitatively effective were the Army’s strikes against terrorists in PoK? The government has indicated it will furnish evidence and some details about the effectiveness of the strikes. Until then, we only have the government’s word for it. Sooner or later questions are bound to rise. Second, and most important, will this deter Islamabad from continuing to support terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir and other parts of the country? Third, will surgical strikes of high intensity and quality henceforth become state policy to be repeated as and when thus truly marking a paradigm shift in India’s response to Pakistan’s support to terrorism? Or, will this be a one-off strike aimed at quelling public anger over the terror attack on an Indian Army camp in Uri? Furthermore, will this action be milked for political gains by the ruling party, especially during campaigning in the forthcoming assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab?Such strikes cannot and must not be an end in itself. The aim of such action has to be to make it expensive for Pakistan to support terrorists and also for the terrorists themselves if not altogether stop Islamabad from making terrorism an instrument of state policy. Leave aside ceasing to support terrorists, Pakistan is expected to become more hostile towards India in response to which New Delhi will need to be ever vigilant and prepared. The Army’s limited ‘surgical’ strike on is so far a reactive measure – a response to the September 18 terror attack in Uri. It was not, truly speaking, a pro-active measure initiated without an immediate provocation. Besides, a solitary military action of this nature is never enough. For, this cannot be a number game where the killing of 19 Indian soldiers must be matched by an equal or higher figure after which India waits for the next terror attack to occur before again responding. 

Draw a policy

Rather, New Delhi needs to consider making it a policy to conduct pre-emptive surgical strikes on Pakistani terror factories on a relentlessly continuous basis in order to truly making it expensive for the terrorists and its Pakistani patrons. Prevention, rather than cure, is ideally the answer. But for this, Indian intelligence agencies will need to develop an intelligence gathering network par excellence comprising human intelligence (HUMINT) and electronic intelligence (ELINT) sources to obtain real time actionable information; Well-equipped special forces will have to be on permanent stand-by and work in conjunction with intelligence agencies. The political executive irrespective of the political alliance in power will need to maintain a steely resolve and keep the nerve to ‘go for it’ each time. Both the Indian intelligence and military establishments will need to develop capabilities to overcome Pakistani measures to prevent such attacks; and India will have to be in a ‘state in being’, i.e. in a perpetual state of alertness and preparedness including for setbacks as does happen in this long drawn out game. Only then would India have truly ‘arrived’ such as like Israel, which some Indian commentators love to quote. 

Dangerous game

The question is whether India has the stomach, resolve and capability for this kind of a response? Then again, the September 29 strike was across a shallow distance of up to between 2 and 3 km. How deep will India be prepared to go should Pakistan relocate its launch pads well inside Occupied Jammu and Kashmir? Is India prepared for an escalation, and to what extent? Soon after the terror attacks in Mumbai on November 26, 2008, Air Chief Marshal Fali Homi Major told the government that the Indian Air Force was unable to conduct air strikes on terror camps in Pakistan since they did not have specific coordinates. In other words, there existed no actionable intelligence despite supposed reforms in intelligence gathering carried out after the May-July 1999 Kargil War. 

Covertly overt?

The Army’s trans-LoC action has been greeted with and commented on with much jingoism and chest thumping by some in India, especially by some sections of the ruling party, as had occurred when India exploded nuclear devices in May 1998. Covert operations and surgical strikes are more effective when not publicised. While overt announcements are good for the domestic audience and gives the ruling dispensation political mileage, it does not serve its true purpose; certainly not at such an early stage. Ideally, covert operations should strike hard and remain covert. It should be left on officers to refer to it in passing in their memoirs written well after their retirement. If at all it must be made public by the government, it is best done when Pakistan’s terror factory is sufficiently degraded. Until then maturity lies in silent but relentless continuous action. A tool in the boxDuring the height of militancy in Punjab when Rajiv Gandhi was Prime Minister, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) engaged in a series of covert operations in Pakistan which was partial cause for some dent in Islamabad’s support to terrorism in the state. In 1989 killings by terrorists declined to 1,188 from 1,949 in 1988 only to escalate after the VP Singh government came to power. With RAW’s operations then ceasing and the VP Singh government adopting a ‘liberal’ outlook, terrorism escalated and in just two years (1990 and 1991), terrorists killed 5,059 people in the state (2,467 in 1990 and 2,591 in 1991). This was equivalent to the figure of a total 5,070 people killed in the preceding 12 years (1978 to 1989) before terrorism in the Punjab began tapering off following a regime change in New Delhi and the formation of an elected government in Chandigarh.Strategy is the employment of all means for an end. Surgical strikes have to be viewed as a tool in the box. It cannot be the sole instrument. Equally important, the 29th September action must never be a one-off. It should mark the beginning of pro-active measures to end Pakistan’s long standing roguish game of using terror against India. The journey has just begun and India has a long way to go. It is for successive governments in New Delhi to complete this journey.

dkumar@tribunemail.com

Villagers with their belongings loaded on tractor-trailers come out of the Sant Kabir Institute relief camp near Fazilka to return to their villages on Wednesday. Tribune photo

Praful Chander Nagpal

Fazilka, October 5

Six days after the Army carried out surgical strikes across the LoC, the border area residents today started returning home. They had been putting up in relief camps set up across the district.“There is no use of staying in relief camps as our ripe paddy crop will get damaged if not harvested soon,” said Zora Singh, a resident of Bakhushah village, who was staying in a relief camp at Sant Kabir Institute, near Fazilka.Manjit Singh of Ram Singh Bhaini village said since the government had ordered reopening of schools, he had brought his children back home to prevent the loss of studies.Some villagers have, however, complained that they are allegedly being forced by government officials to leave the camps and return to the respective villages.Harbans Singh of Bakhushah village, Ashok Singh of Mohammad Pira village, Dalip Singh of Retewali Bhain village and Manjit Singh of Wisakhawala village alleged that he had been told to return home.Official sources said as many as 4,471 residents were staying in 31 relief camps set up in various parts of the district. More than 1,000 have left the camps set up at Sant Kabir Institute, Government ITI, National College, Chuarianwali, Kheowali, Behak Khas, Kirianwali villages etc.Additional Deputy Commissioner Charandev Singh Maan refuted the allegation, but admitted that the villagers had starting leaving the camps and the administration was lending every possible help to those who wanted to return on their own. “In fact, the border villagers started returning home for the education to their wards, to take care of their livestock and to harvest the paddy crop,” he said.

Vijay Mohan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 3

It has taken 40 long years of struggle for a differently abled soldier, who had suffered amputation of his leg and consequently invalided out of service, to finally get his due pensionary benefits after the Armed Forces Tribunal came to his rescue.The Tribunal, in order passed a few days ago, has granted him pension from the date of his discharge in 1977. Sepoy Jagdish Chand, who hails from Kangra in Himachal Pradesh, had only about two years of service when while proceeding from his unit to his home on a single day’s casual leave, the bus he was travelling in met with an accident and he lost his left leg.Though the statutory military authorities had declared his disability “attributable to military service” since he was travelling from his unit to his home, the Defence Accounts Department declined to release him his pension, causing him a lot of hardship.Spending most party of his life without pension and running from pillar to post, he ultimately sought his documents under the RTI Act, which proved that not only the Court of Inquiry but the Invaliding Medical Board too had held his disability attributable to service. He thereafter approached the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) for grant of pension.Holding the action of accounts authorities illegal, the AFT granted him disability pension from the date of his release in 1977. The AFT has cited decisions of the Supreme Court and Punjab and Haryana High Court to conclude that administrative or accounts bodies cannot override the declaration of attributability to service by military or medical authorities.

A Pakistani soldier patrols in Mandhole village in Tatta Pani sector near the LoC in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir on October 1, 2016. — AFP

Mandhole (Pakistan), October 2

Pakistani military officials point to an Indian Army post high on a forested ridge along the Line of Control dividing Kashmir, insisting any incursions are impossible, after skirmishes ignited dangerous tensions between the two countries.

The Pakistani Army took the rare step of flying international media to the de facto border to make its case in a battle of competing narratives, after India said its elite commandos penetrated up to 3 km into Pakistan on anti-militant raids.

The presence of Indian forces so far across the Line of Control (LoC) would be a stinging blow to Pakistan, particularly after the 2011 US raid that killed Osama bin Laden which took place on its territory without its consent.

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The media visit came yesterday as Army Chief Dalbir Singh congratulated commandos involved in what New Delhi has described as “surgical strikes” to take out terrorist launch pads after a deadly attack on an Indian Army base by Pakistan-backed militants last month that killed 19 soldiers.

Pakistan has flatly denied the claim, saying two of its soldiers were killed but only in cross-border fire of the kind that commonly violates a 2003 ceasefire on the LoC.

The helicopter tour took journalists to sectors just 2 km from the dividing line, and near the locations India said it targeted in assaults on four militant camps.

On hand were senior local commanders as well as army spokesman Lieutenant General Asim Bajwa — an omnipresent media personality who has taken centre stage on Pakistani television since the tensions erupted.

In villages like Mandhole, daily life was going on largely as normal despite the tensions, with shops and businesses open and children in pressed white uniforms walking to school.

“You have seen the lay of the land,” said Bajwa, speaking from a command post overlooking the lush green Bandala Valley, with Pakistani and Indian fortifications visible on the opposite hill.

“You can see the way the fortifications are built and the way Pakistan has layers of defence and they have layers of defence … the LoC cannot be violated,” he said.

“If they’ve caused that damage to us, we don’t know any has been caused to us! You can go and meet the civilian population. Our side is open: to the UN mission, to the media, to the general public,” he said.

It was not possible to verify the general’s claims, though villagers who spoke with a second AFP reporter in the area independent of the military-guided trip were also incredulous.

Sardar Javed, a 37-year-old journalist for Kashmiri newspapers and a resident of Tatta Pani sector, which lies just west of J&K’s Poonch sector, where one of the strikes was said to have been carried out, said he had seen no evidence of a raid.

“I’m not saying it’s not true because that’s the Army line. It’s because I’m from the LoC and I’m a local journalist. News spreads fast around here and people get to know whatever happens,” he said. — AFP