850 incidents of cross border firing and shelling reported in 2017. Rawat said situation on the India-China border is quiet and under control. He added that Islamabad will use terrorists to destabilise J-K in 2018 summer

by Sudhi Ranjan Sen

Chief of Army Staff General Bipin Rawat today said that India will continue its counter-terror mechanism to challenge Islamabad that is likely to use terrorists to destabilise Jammu and Kashmir through the summer of 2018.

"Pakistan will not relent and will attempt to push as many terrorist as possible. We will continue with our counter-terror mechanism to deny any advantage to Pakistan in the manner in which we have been doing," Rawat told India Today.

General Rawat added that the situation on the India-China border is quiet and under control.

The Line of Control - the de-facto boundary between India and Pakistan - has been unusually active since last year.

Over 300 incidents of cross border shelling were reported in the first two months of 2018 as against over 850 incidents of cross border firing and shelling reported in 2017.

The Indian Army changed its track from just responding to cross border firing and violation of the 2003 India-Pakistan Ceasefire Agreement to a more proactive stance.

It is now attacking the Pakistani Army positions along the border that support infiltration bids and is prepared with terror launch pads to prevent infiltration attempts.

The Indian Army claimed that at least 24 regular Pakistani soldiers have been killed in the fire assaults launched on various Pakistan Army position in the first two months of 2018.

The India Army, however, said that the Pakistan Army will hide its casualties from its own people.

Pakistan is expected to go polls by the end of this year and it is unlikely that its Army would want to appear weak before its people, the Indian Army said.