Army watch to continue on Tangdhar sector

The Army will continue to keep a close watch on the Tangdhar sector in north Kashmir for the next one month because of the presence of seven terror camps across the border, out of which at least three were decimated by Indian artillery fire on Saturday.

Tangdhar was chosen as the infiltration axis in the north of Pir Panjal as it offers the shortest route to Kupwara in Kashmir by crossing the Sadhna top.

Because of its geographical location that provides a tactical advantage to terrorists and their Pakistani handlers, Indian troops generally keep a strict vigil on the area and will continue to do so with the extra alert for the next few weeks till the time mountain passes are closed due to snowfall.

Sources said Pakistan would like to make an all-out attempt to push more terrorists into Jammu and Kashmir before the winter. Close to 100 terrorists are still waiting in the camps looking for the right opportunity to infiltrate.

The Tangdhar strategy is different from approaches through Rajouri, Poonch and Nowshera in lower altitudes. For months, Pakistan was trying to use this region more to push more infiltrators, who can quickly move to other parts of the state. Last year, nearly two dozen terrorists trying to infiltrate from this region were killed by the Indian Army.

Throughout the year, hostility along the 740 km LoC and 198 km international border in Jammu and Kashmir remained very high with the Indian Army recording 2,317 incidents of ceasefire violations by the Pakistan Army between January 1 and October 10, 2019. Indian Army recorded. Also, 147 terrorists were killed in operations on the LoC and hinterland.

However, Pakistan Foreign Office on Sunday accused India of escalation in ceasefire violations since 2017 and blamed the Indian forces for more than 1970 ceasefire violation.

Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawat confirmed Indian Army’s artillery fire on terror camps in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir to prevent them from entering India.

Army sources said at least six Pakistani army men were killed in action along with some terrorists though the actual body count remains a matter of speculation.