india

Updated: Apr 08, 2020 08:15 IST

There has been an unusual spike in ceasefire violations by the Pakistan army on the Line of Control (LoC) this year to help infiltrators sneak into Jammu and Kashmir compared to border violations in the previous years, two senior officers familiar with the matter said on Tuesday on condition of anonymity.

The neighbouring army has carried out more ceasefire violations during January-March this year compared to the corresponding periods of the previous two years. Local recruitment of terrorists in J&K, however, has declined this year, figures show.

Pakistan violated the ceasefire 1,144 times between January and March, with the highest number of violations (411) being recorded last month when Covid-19 cases started peaking globally, said the first officer cited above. It has carried out 53 cease-fire violations this month (as of April 6).

Figures obtained by HT show that the Pakistan army violated the ceasefire 685 times in 2019 and 627 times in 2018 for the period January to March.

The world is fighting the Covid-19 outbreak using all available resources but Pakistan is focused on pushing in terrorist infiltrators into the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir to foment trouble, said the second officer cited above.

Pakistan carried out 1,629 cease-fire violations in 2018 and 3,168 violations in 2019, compared to 1,197 this year.

The army has been dealing with an increase in infiltration attempts by Pakistan-backed terrorists looking to stir trouble in J&K since the Centre’s move revoking the special status of the state on August 5, 2019. Experts said Pakistan was trying its best to reinvigorate the terror machinery in J&K to destabilise the border region.

Five commandos belonging to an elite army Special Forces (SF) unit were killed in action along the LoC in Kashmir’s Keran sector on Sunday during an intense close-quarters battle with an equal number of terrorist infiltrators who were all eliminated.

Lieutenant General Satish Dua (retd), a former commander of the Srinagar-based HQs 15 Corps, told Hindustan Times on Monday that this is the first summer after the removal of Article 370 and Pakistan army will surely step up efforts to push in terrorists to create trouble.

An Army officer said on Monday that Pakistan and its army are fomenting terrorism in India to hide its failure to fight Covid-19. “The Indian Army is not only fighting Covid with utmost professionalism both in India and in neighbouring countries but it is also concurrently defeating Pakistan’s evil designs along the LoC and in Jammu and Kashmir,” he said, asking not to be named.

The security forces have killed 41 terrorists in J&K this year so far compared to 152 terrorists in 2019 and 215 in 2018, according to official figures. Local recruitment of terrorists has shown a declining trend this year -- only six joined terror outfits as of April 7 (compared to 119 in entire 2019).