“There seems to be a deliberate decision to work out the threshold of the Indian Army’s tolerance. The firing incidents are carried out by small teams in daylight who are dressed in either combat fatigues, track suits or salwar suits. The fire takes places from in between Pakistan posts,” says Major General S A Hasnain, GOC of the Baramulla-based Dagger division that controls a 130-km LoC stretch along which most of the ceasefire violations have taken place.

The aim of carrying out such operations, the officer says, is to compel India to reconfigure its counter-insurgency infrastructure by forcing troops to restrict their movement and, as a result, opening an access route to militants.

“The incidents were aimed at creating gaps in the counter-insurgency grid,” Hasnain says.

The events, which have been followed by vehement denials by Pakistani officers during flag meetings conducted to lodge protests, have also brought back recollections of a tumultuous past. “In a way, the tactics used during the Kargil war come back to mind when Pakistani officers say the incidents are being carried out by our own people, i.e. Kashmiri insurgents,” a top officer says. Tellingly, along the entire LoC that lies north of the Pir Panjal range, not even a single cross-firing incident has been reported since November 2003. However, after the July 28 incident, eight major attacks on Indian troops have taken place in the area while south of Pir Panjal — in sectors such as Rajouri and Poonch — more than 15 violations have been reported since July.

... contd.