Army reacted to firing, didn’t violate ceasefire, says chief

The Army chief has played down yesterday’s incident along the Line of Control, saying “there is no question of a ceasefire violati...

The Army chief has played down yesterday’s incident along the Line of Control, saying “there is no question of a ceasefire violation”. But the DGMO has not ruled out the latter, saying “such incidents in the past have been termed ceasefire violations”.

The DMO, Pakistan yesterday accused Indian troops of unprovoked firing and abducting two of its nationals. The Army said today it had not violated the LoC, adding that that it was reacting to firing across the LoC and was well within its own territory.

Army chief General J J Singh today said Pakistan had denied involvement in last afternoon’s two firing incidents and said it may have been from militant positions. The acting DGMO, Major General H S Lidder, spoke to his Pakistani counterpart yesterday and today and said the latter had denied involvement in the firing.

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The DGMO said there was no retaliatory fire from India. He described the repatriation of Pakistani national Faqir Hussain, 48, who was found during the search operation after the firing as a “goodwill gesture”. Hussain was repatriated today since he was found to have crossed over into Indian territory inadvertently.

Saying the DGMO was “under the wrong impression” about yesterday’s incident, Gen Singh admitted that it was not possible to confirm if the Pakistan Army was helping militants infiltrate Indian territory. “At night, we are not sure if their Army is facilitating the militants. About a ceasefire violation, we said the same thing to them three months ago.”