Army chief General Bipin Rawat (TOI photo)

NEW DELHI: The Indian Army on Tuesday said Pakistan had not cranked up its deployment of military forces along the Line of Control in any significant manner, though there have been "some limited forward movement of military equipment" to plug operational gaps.

Army chief General Bipin Rawat , on his part, downplayed Indian and Pakistani troop movements on either side of the 778-km long LoC amidst heightened bilateral tensions over Kashmir, stressing they were basically "precautionary" in nature and nothing to be "concerned about".

Senior officers say there has been no large-scale troop movement yet by Pakistan despite it also threatening to redeploy some of its forces from the Afghan border to the eastern one with India to put pressure on the US to intervene after the Modi government revoked the special status of J&K and split the state into two union territories.

"It’s a routine practice by India and Pakistan to build up some forces and replenish sector stores along the LoC during summers. We are keeping a close watch on the operational situation. No alarm bells have gone off yet," said a senior officer.

General Rawat, speaking on the sidelines of a seminar, said Indian forces were prepared to deal with any security challenge along the LoC. "As far as the Army and other services are concerned, we are always prepared should anything go wrong," he said.

Asked about reports of Pakistan moving additional troops along the LoC, General Rawat said, "That's normal. Everybody does precautionary deployment and movement of precautionary resources. We should not get too concerned about it."

But, he added, "If the adversary wants to activate the LoC, the choice is his" in the backdrop of the Indian security establishment’s assessment that there is mounting pressure on the Pakistan Army-ISI combine within Pakistan “to show visible action” on the Kashmir front.

The Army says there are around 200 active terrorists in J&K at present, with another 200-250 positioned at the terror launch pads along the LoC waiting for opportunities to infiltrate across. "We are carrying out area domination operations and aggressive patrolling to deny them (terrorists) any space to maneuver or carry out strikes," said another officer.



In Video: Army ready to deal with any security challenge in J&K, says Gen Bipin Rawat