Villages within ten kilometres of the Pakistan border in Punjab are being evacuated following the “surgical strikes” by the Indian Army at the LoC in Pak-administered Kashmir.
According to media reports, India’s home minister Rajnath Singh told Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal to start the evacuation process in view of the escalating hostilities with Pakistan.
The Beating Retreat ceremony at the Wagha-Attari joint check post, in which troops of India and Pakistan carry out a synchronised drill every day, has also been called off.
Mr. Badal convened an emergency meeting of the top brass of his administration and told the district deputy commissioners to set up camps to accommodate villagers in Ferozepur, Fazilka, Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Gurdaspur and Pathankot districts.
According to reports, schools in border areas have been closed and leaves of all government employees cancelled to make preparations to deal with any situation arising out of the recent developments.
According to some media reports,
Indian Army has claimed it carried out surgical strikes inside Pak-administered Kashmir, targeting what it called “terrorists and those who help them”. The Director General of Military Operations, Lt. Gen. Ranbir Singh said the strikes by the Indian forces caused “significant casualties”.
While Pakistan’s Prime Minister condemned the actions of the Indian Army terming it “naked aggression”, the Inter-Services Public Relations refuted the claims that the Indian Army had conducted surgical raids. It said in a statement that it was firing from across the LoC which was an “existing phenomenon”. It said two Pakistani soldiers were killed in the firing by the Indian forces and Pakistan retaliated with weapons of the same calibre.
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