(with agencies input)

IAF rejects reports of Pak jets flying near Siachen

NEW DELHI: Pakistani fighter jets flew near the Siachen Glacier on Wednesday, according to Pakistani media reports, but Indian Air Force sources said there was no violation of India's air space. Pakistan Air Force (PAF) fighter jets made flights near Siachen Glacier this morning, Pakistan-based Samaa TV reported.Quoting sources, the report said all of PAF's forward operating bases have been made fully operational.Mirage jets of PAF are part of exercises since the forward base was made operational.Pakistan's Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Sohail Aman visited the forward airbase in Skardu today and flew a Mirage jet, the report said.According to PAF, Aman met the pilots and technical staff of the fighting force. A fighter squadron carried out higher and lower altitude flights.The Siachen glacier is the highest battleground on earth. It is located in the eastern Karakoram range in the Himalayan mountains where the Line of Control between India and Pakistan ends.In New Delhi, IAF sources said there was no violation of India's air space.The report of Pakistani jets flying near Siachen came a day after the Indian Army announced that it had launched "punitive fire assaults" on Pakistani positions across the Line of Control earlier this month, inflicting some damage.The Army said on Tuesday that the targeted fire assaults, with light field guns, anti-tank guided missiles, heavy mortars, rocket launchers and "infantry tanks", are being conducted to "pro-actively dominate" the Line of Control and "destroy locations aiding infiltration of terrorists" as part of the overall counter-terrorism strategy.A short video clip of one such assault with weapons being used in "a direct firing mode" at the Naushera sector on May 9, which ostensibly shows some forward observation posts of the Pakistan Army being blown up across the LoC, was also released by the Army's additional director-general of public information Major General A K Narula Defence minister Arun Jaitley, on his part, said the government fully supported the Army's "actions across the LoC" for ensuring peace in J&K. "Indian Army is taking pre-emptive and measured actions to counter terrorism in the Valley and disengage Pakistan posts across the LoC which support infiltration," he added.