Jammu, May 3 (IANS) For the ninth consecutive day on Saturday, Pakistan Army resorted to unprovoked small arms firing on the Indian posts along the Line Of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir, officials said.
A Defence Ministry statement on Saturday said, “During the night of May 2 and May 3, Pakistan Army resorted to unprovoked small‑arms fire across the LoC opposite the Kupwara, Uri, and Akhnoor areas of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.”
“Indian Army responded promptly and proportionately.”
Pakistan has been continuously targeting Indian army positions on the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir for the last nine days as tensions reach a new high in India-Pakistan relationship after the cowardly murder of 26 civilians, including 25 tourists and a local, on April 22 in Baisaran meadow of Pahalgam by Pakistan sponsored, aided and backed Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) terrorists.
The entire country was outraged by the cowardly act of terrorists as Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in his first reaction to Pahalgam killings that the terrorists, their handlers and backers would he chased and hunted down to the ends of the earth.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had a 40-minute-long meeting with the Prime Minister on Monday.
The Defence Minister met PM Modi after he received a detailed briefing by the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan on the preparedness of the country’s Armed forces to meet any eventuality.
Prime Minister Modi has given the country’s Armed forces complete operational freedom to avenge the Pahalgam terror attack.
Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor (L-G) Manoj Sinha had a security review meeting with Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi in Srinagar a few days ago.
The L-G asked the Army to use whatever force is required to hunt down the perpetrators of the Pahalgam terror attack.
Meanwhile, to send a powerful message to terrorists, their overground workers and sympathisers, security forces continue demolition of the houses of terrorists.
Last Friday, two houses belonging to Adil Hussain Thokar and Asif Sheikh were demolished in the Tral and Bijbehara areas.
Both these terrorists were part of the LeT terrorist group involved in the Pahalgam killings.
Security forces have so far demolished the houses of 10 terrorists, who are reportedly still active in the Kashmir Valley.
On Monday, the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly unanimously condemned the dastardly terrorist attack and passed a resolution on this.
India has closed Attari-Wagah border crossing point, deported Pakistani nationals, kept the Indus Water Treaty in Abeyance and closed its airspace for Pakistani commercial flights.
Pakistan has reacted by announcing that it will not abide by the Shimla Agreement thereby deciding to disregard the LoC in J&K, which is the de-facto border in Jammu and Kashmir between the two South Asian neighbours.
–IANS
sq/khz