Srinagar:
The Army today said Indian troops were being "heavily engaged" by continuous firing from Pakistan, but denied that Pakistani troops had occupied a ghost village in Jammu and Kashmir along the Line of Control.
Lt Gen Gurmeet Singh, GOC 15 Corps today held a press conference in Srinagar where he gave details about the operation. Here are the highlights:
- Any violation of territorial integrity will never be accepted by us
- We have 5 soldiers who are injured but all stable ; there are no fatal casualties till now
- There were specialised troops
- We are prepared for such operations, this is our role; have faith in us.
- Dead bodies of militants are of no concern to us
- Rare for military commander to talks about any operation till it is complete
- There have been many rumours - that's not fair. Wait for the ops to be over, we'll share details with you
- I am singularly proud of my soldiers the way they have been fighting this nefarious and massive infiltration attempt
- Your soldiers, your Army is ready for any challenge
- My troops are in control of this area, it's absolutely absurd - no village or observation post taken
- Premature for me to comment in specific terms - but analysing methodology, this was a action-cum-infiltration by Border Action Teams or BAT; number of militants is very large and the way they've been fighting
- I am confident of my troops. Indian Army is working with commitment and professionalism
- This is an on-going operation and sharing inputs will impact my soldiers
- Why should I rush? Time is on my side. They have done this audacity to violate the LoC and we have taken them on
- Since I have already cordoned this area, we'll be able to carry on with the operation the way we want
- I find the suggestion that the Air Force is supporting us absurd
- We have a continuous process of change of units - even if there were a change of troops, there would be no dip in alert or preparedness
- Anti-infiltration obstacle system is excellent for the purpose it was put there
- I would not like to commit to a time frame, we would do it in a very deliberate way
- Remnants of militants are still holed up there, we are beginning the last phase of ops but will never try to hurry - be patient
- Retrieving the dead bodies of militants is of no consequence or importance to me. What is important is the firing that is coming needs to be eliminated