Trouble in J&K sparks gunbattles along LoC

Things began to change in July after the Poonch and Mendhar sectors—north of PB—reported heavy cross-border firing and an increase in infiltration attempts. While defences in PB were strengthened, it received a taste of the changing mood along the LoC on August 16. A barrage of 60 mm mortars (generally used by the Pakistan Army) and rocket-propelled grenades (RPG) landed at the Nira post, destroying a bunker and leaving the troops rattled. Five days later, another round of mortars fired at an Army post missed its target and landed in a wooded area.

“The RPGs were fired from across the LoC at a point that is just below one of Pakistan’s posts. The mortars came from some distance away, well within the Pakistan-held territory,” says Lt Col TJ Singh, Officiating Commanding Officer of 2 Sikh Light Infantry, which is holding the ridge.

Since July, 16 violations have taken place just in the 300-km patch of LoC that lies south of the Pir Panjal range. While minor incidents involving small arms fire—that could even be wished away as fire by militants—were reported over the last few years, what has changed is the nature of violations with mortars and RPGs being used.

While this has been in sync with Pervez Musharraf’s declining power in Pakistan, the worrying trend is that the incidents matched up with the Amarnath land row. While there were no violations in the beginning of the year, in July, seven firing incidents took place along the LoC. In August, the number increased to eight. Infiltration attempts during these months also followed a similar trend, putting Army units in the hinterland on full alert.

However, what has really stretched the Army is its role in containing protests on the land issue that were on all along the LoC in Rajauri and Poonch—areas where the population is mixed and chances of a communal flare up extremely high.

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