12-year-old PoK boy held along LoC in Rajouri

A 12-year-old boy from Pakistan- occupied Kashmir was detained after he crossed over into the Indian territory along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district, an army official said today. Army sources said it is suspected that he was sent by terrorists in connivance with the Pakistan Army to conduct a recce of infiltration routes and patrol tracks of the army.

"A patrol of the Indian Army along the Line of Control (LoC) apprehended a 12-year-old intruder from Pakistan- occupied Kashmir (PoK)  who had crossed over to this side of LoC late last evening in Nowshera sector of Rajouri district," the spokesman said. The boy named Ashfaq Ali Chauhan, who is the son of a retired Baloch Regiment soldier of Dunger Pel village in PoK, was found moving suspiciously near the LoC on the Indian side, he said.

On being challenged by the army's patrol party, the boy immediately surrendered, the spokesman said. The sources said that it exposed Pakistan on the human rights front as to how a 12-year-old child was pushed by them into the Indian territory to probe LoC areas seeded with minefields in a highly militarised belt. The boy will be handed over to the police by the army for further investigation.