Army reserves right to retaliate

NEW DELHI — In a blunt message, the Indian Army on Friday conveyed to Pakistan that it reserves the right to “retaliate appropriately” to any incident leading to the loss of lives of its troops due to Pakistani firing along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir.

In a telephonic conversation, Indian Army’s Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) Lt Gen A K Bhatt conveyed to his Pakistani counterpart that the trend of cross-border infiltration with “active support” of Pakistani forward posts has been continuing, impacting peace and tranquillity in the border areas, the Army said.

“Lt Gen Bhatt reiterated that the Indian Army is a professional Army and reserves the right to retaliate appropriately to any incident leading to loss of lives of Indian troops,” it said.

Bhatt also told Pakistan DGMO Maj Gen Sahir Shamshad Mirza that cross-border infiltration was also impacting internal security situation in Jammu and Kashmir and that this was evident from continued attempts of sniping and targeting of Indian troops undertaken through cross-border actions “duly supported” by the Pakistan Army troops, the Army said.

The DGMO also reaffirmed that the Indian Army would like to maintain peace and tranquillity along the LoC provided there was a reciprocal effort from Pakistan.

The telephonic conversation was initiated by Maj Gen Mirza who claimed the Indian Army was targeting Pakistani civilians in the Jammu sector. —