India will continue to ‘militarily dominate’ LoC: Arun Jaitley

India's defence minister blames Islamabad of scuttling ‘all attempts for bilateral peace talks’


News Desk June 02, 2017
I don't want to get into the details about what the strategic approach is, but I can tell you that the army and BSF are dominating the LoC for the past few weeks, says Jaitley. PHOTO: AFP

New Delhi will continue to “militarily dominate” the Line of Control (LoC) like it has been doing for the past few weeks, India’s defence minister Arun Jaitley has claimed.

Jaitley’s remarks come in the wake of Indian army’s unprovoked firing in Battal, Jandrot and Mandhol in Rawalakot district of Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK) which left two people dead and six others injured on Thursday morning.

Two killed in India’s cross-LoC firing

“I don't want to get into the details about what the strategic approach is, but I can tell you that the army and BSF are dominating the LoC for the past few weeks,” The Times of India quoted Jaitley as saying.

The Indian defence minister further accused Islamabad of scuttling all attempts to create a conducive environment for bilateral peace talks. “The government of India has taken significant steps to ease the situations in past…each was responded by say, a Pathankot, Uri or mutilation of soldiers,” he said, referring to attacks on Indian army bases allegedly carried out by militants based in Pakistan.

Kashmir unrest

Though Jaitley admitted there was a problem in “a few districts of south Kashmir”, he went on to claim that the overall situation in Indian-occupied Kashmir (IoK) was “much more normal than what was being portrayed”.

Top rights advocate slams Indian army chief's 'criminal leadership' in Kashmir

Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence from Britain in 1947. Both claim the territory in full and have fought two wars over the mountainous region. An armed rebellion that started in the region in 1989 has left tens of thousands, mostly civilians, dead.

This article originally appeared on TOI.

COMMENTS (7)

Freedom | 6 years ago | Reply Sad how India and Pakistan have been fighting for more than a century on a piece of land. Let the people of Kashmir decide their own fate. Force is not an answer to any problem. Modi is incapable of dealing with this issue.
Jadoo | 6 years ago | Reply For India, indiscriminate killing of civilians on LOC is dominating militarily. Really?
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