All attempts being made to free Indian soldier from Pakistani custody: Rajnath Singh

Indian minister says New Delhi will take up the matter with Islamabad for soldier's early release

Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh said on Friday that all attempts were being made to free an Indian soldier allegedly captured by the Pakistan Army along the Line of Control.

"All attempts are being made to secure his release," Singh told reporters in the New Delhi after attending a meeting to discuss internal security.

According to the Indian Express, Singh said New Delhi will take up the matter with Islamabad for his early release.

Mystery surrounds the Indian soldier's capture as an official of the military’s media wing, ISPR, when contacted, denied that an Indian soldier was in Pakistan Army’s custody.

Maleeha Lodhi, country’s ambassador to the United Nations, however, told Al Jazeera that an Indian soldier, trying to cross the border, was captured by Pakistan.



An Indian army official claimed, “It is confirmed one soldier from 37 Rashtriya Rifles with weapons has inadvertently crossed over to the Pakistan side of the Line of Control."

The official told Reuters that such incidents of people including civilians crossing the frontier by mistake have happened in the past from both sides and those who strayed have been returned.

The Narendra Modi administration staged a drama on Thursday to placate a media-induced public frenzy following the Uri attack. The Indian military claimed that it had carried out ‘surgical strikes’ against perceived ‘terrorist launch pads’ on the Pakistani side of the Line of Control in disputed Kashmir region.

But the Pakistani military ripped to shreds the Indian farcical claim as an “illusion being deliberately generated by the Indians to create false effects”.



“We deny it. There is no such thing on the ground. There is just the incident of the firing last night, which we responded to,” chief military spokesperson Lt Gen Asim Bajwa told a news channel.

“There has been no surgical strike by India, instead there had been cross-border fire initiated and conducted by India,” the Inter-Services Public Relations added in a statement.

“As per rules of engagement, [the] same was strongly and befittingly responded by Pakistani troops,” the ISPR added.