Special Frontier Force commandoes comprising mainly of Tibetans undergoing training

According to a report tabled in the Parliament on the first day of the current session, 3,186 ceasefire violations by the Pakistan Army have been reported this year along the Indo-Pak border between January and September this year.

The Indian army is on alert, not just on the line of actual control (LAC) bordering China, but along the entire line of control (LoC) with Pakistan, which is seeing an increase in ceasefire violations, particularly since August last year when the government altered the special status in Jammu and Kashmir.

The LoC is witnessing 300 to 400 violations every single month.

The government made statements on both the LAC and the LoC this week, without giving the monthly breakup.

According to a report tabled in the Parliament on the first day of the current session, 3,186 ceasefire violations by the Pakistan Army have been reported this year along the Indo-Pak border between January and September this year.

The violations have nearly doubled from the 1629 reported in 2018. In 2019, the figure stood at 3168 for the entire year.

Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat has often spoken of being prepared for a two-front aggression which is currently under play on the LAC as well as the LoC.

The LoC has been particularly hot since August 5, 2019 when the government hollowed out Section 370 which gave the erstwhile northern state of Jammu and Kashmir its special status.

Pakistan has openly contested the status change at the highest political and military levels and the comparative figures for the month of August alone are in indication of prolonged and heightened tensions.

There were as many as 307 ceasefire violations in August 2019 as against 44 in August 2018, according to official ministry of defence (MoD) figures seen by HT. The ceasefire was violated over 300 times in each of the subsequent months with March 2020 seeing 411 such violations. On average, March saw as many as 12 violations per day.

While the face-off with China started in early April this year, Pakistan too has upped the ante, with close to 400 violations ever single month between March and August, according to official MoD data.

Defence minister Rajnath Singh underlined in Parliament Thursday that India would not step back from taking harsh decisions, even, as he said that China has amassed battle machines and troops along the LAC.

The LAC has been on fire since April with both sides adding troops, particularly in Eastern Ladakh.

India lost 20 soldiers including a commanding officer at Galwan Valley on June 15, while the Chinese army too suffered an unspecified number of casualties.

The LAC has witnessed soldier deaths for the first time since 1975. Bullets too, flew for the first time in 45 years in early September.

The stand-off on the line of actual control continues despite high-level engagement at the level of foreign and defence ministers of both sides.

A follow-up meeting at the military level is expected, though no date has currently been fixed.

As one army official, who asked not to be identified because he is not authorized to speak to the media said, “We cannot afford to drop our guard either with China or Pakistan. They appear to be in a tango.”

India is meanwhile preparing for a long haul as it heads into the winter months, mindful of the fact that the terrain along both fronts is inhospitable.