Disquiet Along The Border: Security Forces ‘Hammering And Bleeding’ Pakistani Army At The LoC

Government sources on Thursday (16 February) claimed that 20 Pakistani soldiers have been killed and several others have been injured since this year as the Indian Army moves on its policy to ‘pro-actively dominate the border’, Times of India has reported.

This follows a similar strategy that has been in place since last year, with Army chief General Bipin Rawat having asserted that the Pakistani forces are facing at least “three to four times more casualties” along the border. Several Pakistani Army posts were destroyed by the Indian forces last year, with even heavy artillery and anti-tank guided missiles being used for punitive strikes by the Indian forces.

India had lost 32 soldiers to cross-border violations by the Pakistani forces in 2017 which had in turn lost 130 to 140 soldiers in retaliatory fire by the Indian forces, according to the Army intelligence.

However, even as Pakistani forces face the heat from Indian strikes, Indian forces are preparing for ‘a hot summer’ in Kashmir this time, with close to 400 terrorists spread across the Line of Control looking to sneak into India.

The government statement comes at the heels of the Sunjuwan terror attacks, where six security personnel along with one civilian were martyred in the attack on an Army camp in Jammu, further ratcheting up tensions between India and Pakistan.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had earlier said that Pakistan will be punished for its ‘misadventure’ in Sunjuwan.