Will Respond to Pakistan Firing with Double Force: Defence Minister

Mangalore Today News Network

srinagar, Dec 31, 2014: The Indian Army must retaliate with "double the force" if the Pakistani military fires on the Jammu and Kashmir border, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has said.

 

The minister told journalists on Tuesday night that Indian troops do not breach the 2003 ceasefire between India and Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir.

"I would say, don’t agitate, react appropriately but without holding yourself back. When something happens, retaliate with double the force," he said.

The minister’s comments came as a soldier was injured when Pakistani forces on Tuesday fired at Indian positions along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pallanwalla sector. Today, a soldier was killed and another injured at the Samba sector.

Cross-border violence in Jammu and Kashmir has, in recent months, been the worst in over a decade.  In October, at least 20 civilians were killed on both sides. 

India summoned Pakistani High Commissioner Abdul Basit earlier this week to protest against the possibility of 26/11 mastermind Zakiur-Rahman Lakhvi walking free. 

Lakhvi, who was arrested in 2009 for orchestrating the Mumbai attacks in which 166 people were killed, was granted bail by a Pakistani court on December 18, drawing strong condemnation from New Delhi. However, he has yet to be released from jail. Though a judge said on Monday that he cannot be kept in jail by the government, he was re-arrested yesterday in a kidnapping case, allowing the Pakistani government to detain him for now. 

Pakistan has said it will appeal against his bail in the Supreme Court but that has yet to happen. 

 

Courtesy: NDTV