Pakistan air force goes live all along LoC for wargame
PAK MEDIA REPORTED COMBAT JETS HAD FLOWN NEAR SIACHEN, BUT INDIAN AIR FORCE SAID THERE HAD BEEN NO VIOLATION OF THE COUNTRY’S AIRSPACE
ISLAMABAD/NEWDELHI:Pakistan on Wednesday activated all its forward airbases close to the Line of Control even as Air Chief Marshal Sohail Aman warned his forces were fully prepared to respond to any aggression by the “enemy”, reflecting a spike in tensions with India.
Reports in the Pakistani media quoted sources as saying that combat jets had flown near the Siachen glacier — the world’s highest battleground — but the Indian Air Force said there had been no violation of the country’s airspace.
The fresh Pakistani provocation came a day after the Indian Army said it had carried out “punitive fire assaults” against Pakistani military posts and terrorist launch pads along the Line of Control. Aman and senior Pakistan Air Force officers visited Qadri airbase in Skardu, part of Gilgit-Baltistan, where combat squadrons are engaged in an exercise. Aman, who flew a Mirage jet as part of the drills, reviewed the operational preparedness of his force. In an apparent riposte to India’s actions along the LoC, Aman told reporters at Skardu airbase that Pakistan was prepared to give a “befitting response to any misadventure by the enemy”.
“Pakistan should have zero concern over the statements of the enemy. Our response to any aggression by the enemy will be such that their future generations will also remember it,” he said, according to state-run Radio Pakistan. He ordered the “operational activation” of forward bases on the 780-km LoC.
In New Delhi, defence minister Arun Jaitley referred to the situation in Jammu and Kashmir and said army officers were free to take decisions in a “warlike” zone. “Well, military solutions are to be provided by military officers. How a situation is to be dealt with when you are in a war-like zone... we should allow our army officers to take a decision,” he told the media.
The army did not have to “consult members of Parliament as to what they should do”, he added.
On Tuesday, the Indian Army said it had carried out “punitive fire assaults” on Pakistani positions across the LoC, inflicting some damage. The action was a response to the beheading of two Indian soldiers by Pakistani troops. India and Pakistan also released videos of their artillery targeting posts along the LoC.
Tensions between the two sides have been high since a terror attack on an Indian Army base in Uri last September killed 19 soldiers. India retaliated against the attack by carrying out “surgical strikes” across the LoC to destroy terrorist launch pads.