New Delhi: The Indian Army yesterday described as “erroneous and speculative” a media report that Indian soldiers had tortured and decapitated Pakistani troops.
The army said in a statement that it was a “highly professional force and does not indulge in unsoldierly acts as alleged” in the newspaper story.
“The very fact that Pakistan has not raised any such issue in bilateral interactions since 1998 bears testimony to the allegations being misleading,” it said.
It said it was incorrect to say that there was no agreed mechanism to regulate conflicts along the Line of Control (LoC) that divides Jammu and Kashmir between India and Pakistan.
It said that “existing hotlines were effective in reducing the tensions along the LoC recently”.
A front-page story in a newspaper yesterday reported classified Pakistani protests to the UN that accused Indian troops of torture and decapitation of at least 12 Pakistani soldiers in cross-LoC raids since 1998.
The report and the army denial follow tensions along the LoC after a Pakistani soldier was killed on January 6 by the Indian Army and Pakistani troops killed two Indian soldiers two days later.
One of the Indian soldiers was beheaded and the head carried away. The other soldier’s body was reportedly mutilated.
The Director General Military Operations of the two countries have since agreed to stick to the 2003 ceasefire along the LoC.
No intrusion
Not a single incident of intrusion from Pakistan took place in the last six months along the international border in the Jammu region due to vigil by the Border Security Force (BSF), an official said.
The security forces have also stepped up vigil along the international border (IB) after the killing of two Indian soldiers by Pakistani troops in Mendhar sector of Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir.
The BSF intensified its vigil along the 198km long international border following the discovery of a 400-metre long and 20-foot deep tunnel that originated from Pakistan into the Indian side on July 28, 2012, BSF Inspector General Ravi Krishna told reporters.
“We had taken a serious note of this misadventure of Pakistan and lodged a strong protest with Pakistani Rangers on the issue, and on our own side we stepped up the vigil on the border as also strengthened our intelligence network,” he said.
“There has been no incident of intrusion across the IB (international border) since then,” he added.
IANS
