India proportionately retaliating to Pak actions along LoC: Nirmala Sitharaman

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today said cross-border infiltration through the Line of Control has been controlled to a large extent and the armed forces are “proportionately” retaliating to Pakistani actions.

Sitharaman also said that there is no rethinking on the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), which has been in force in Jammu and Kashmir and several insurgency hit states in the North East. The Act gives the security forces immunity in carrying out various operations in disturbed areas. There has been a long-standing demand from various quarters in J&K and the Northeast to withdraw it.

On situation at the, LOC Sitharaman said, “We are able to contain the infiltrators and are able to retaliate (to Pakistani actions). It is not an exaggeration to say that we are not allowing them to come in. We are eliminating them at the border and are not letting them come in.”


She, however, added that it would be not right to say that no one manages to infiltrate.

The level of violence between the two Armies on both sides of the LoC has increased after the Surgical Strikes in September, 2016. In 2016, there were 228 ceasefire violations along the LoC, as stated by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in response to a question in the Lok Sabha on February 7. Sources explained that most of the violations took place between October and November of 2016, following the strikes.

The strikes immensely hurt the Pakistan Army’s pride, which caused them to respond with regularly violating the ceasefire, said experts.

In 2017, there were 860 ceasefire violations along the LoC. There were also tit for tat actions. On December 25, the Indian Army had conducted a cross border raid by an elite group of its soldiers on a Pakistani post in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. Three Pakistan Army soldiers were killed and another was injured. The raid was in retaliation to the Pakistan Army carrying out a similar action that led to four Indian Army soldiers being killed near the LoC in Rajouri earlier that month.

Recently, six Army personnel and a civilian were killed in an attack on the Sunjuwan military station in Jammu on February 10. After the Sunjuwan attack, Sitharaman had said that Pakistan would pay for the misadventure.