Islamabad: The Pakistan Army on Tuesday said the situation at the Line of Control (LoC) has remained “relatively peaceful” after the ceasefire agreement with India was restored in 2021.
In his first press conference since assuming office in December last year, Military Spokesman Major General Ahmed Sharif also talked about the latest threat of terrorism and other important issues facing the cash-strapped country.
“The situation at the LoC has remained relatively peaceful after the 2003 ceasefire agreement (was restored),” he said.
Pakistan had downgraded its diplomatic ties with India and severed trade links following New Delhi’s decision to revoke the special status of Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019. In February 2021, the two sides restored a ceasefire agreement on the highly volatile LoC.
Maj Gen Sharif also alleged that India committed 56 LoC ceasefire violations in 2023, including three violations of airspace, 22 incidents of speculative firing, six ceasefire violations and 25 technical airspace violations.
The spokesperson also said that the army was prepared to deal with any threat.
He said that after taking office, Army chief General Asim Munir made his first visit to the LoC and sent a clear message that “Pakistan’s forces are prepared to defend every corner of the country”.
Sharif said that the Pakistan Army was battle-hardened and always led from the front by the officers.
Talking about the threat of terrorism, he said that terrorists had been trying to destroy peace on the western frontiers along Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces but the security forces were foiling their attempts.
“Pakistan’s forces have taken appreciable measures, tracked down terrorist networks and we continue to do so,” he said, adding that there was a nexus between the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan and Baloch militant groups.
Sharing data, he said 436 terrorist attacks took place in the country during the ongoing year, which killed 293 people and injured another 521, while the forces conducted 8,269 intelligence-based operations in the current year and killed or arrested 1,525 terrorists.
“To rid the country of terrorism, more than 70 operations are conducted daily,” he said and added that there was no “no-go area” in Pakistan.
The spokesman also said that 137 security personnel had been killed and 117 injured in anti-terror operations this year.
He said that most of the work on the western border management fencing had been completed along a total of 3,141 kilometres of border with Afghanistan and Iran to curtail terrorist activity.
“Under border management, more than 98 per cent of work on the 2,611 km Pak-Afghan border has been completed, while more than 85 per cent of work on the Pak-Iran border has been completed,” he said.
Islamabad: Pakistan Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Asim Munir is in China on a four-day official visit aimed at enhancing bilateral military relations with the neighbouring country, according to the military’s media wing Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).
“COAS is on a four-day official visit to China for enhancing bilateral military relations,” Dawn news quoted the ISPR as saying in a brief statement.
During his visit, the army chief will hold meetings with the Chinese leadership, Radio Pakistan reported.
This is COAS Munir’s fourth overseas visit ever since he took charge as the army chief in November 2022.
Earlier this year, he undertook a week-long official visit to the UAE and Saudi Arabia and held meetings with the top leadership of the Gulf states.
During the visit, the officials reviewed Pakistan’s bilateral ties with the two countries and discussed ways to strengthen the relations.
Later in February, the COAS visited the UK for meetings on defence-related issues.
He also attended a conference at Wilton Park, an executive agency created by the UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office to foster open dialogue between governments, Dawn reported.
U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves and Criminal Division Chief John Crabb, among other high-ranking DOJ officials, were on hand for the closing arguments, underscoring the significance of the case to the government.
A jury that has heard the case for nearly four months is expected to begin deliberating Tuesday, after each of the five defendants presents a closing argument as well.
Mulroe urged jurors to convict former Proud Boys Chair Enrique Tarrio and four associates — Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola — of seditious conspiracy, a plan to forcibly prevent the transfer of power from Trump to Joe Biden, as well as a host of other federal crimes.
Tarrio, prosecutors say, ignited the conspiracy on Dec. 19, 2020, hours after Trump had urged his supporters to descend on D.C. for a “wild” protest against the election results. Tarrio was concerned that the group — which had already mobilized to participate in two pro-Trump marches in Washington over the prior two months — had been undisciplined, leading to violent street clashes that left some of their members injured.
So he formed a new Proud Boys chapter that he dubbed the “Ministry of Self-Defense,” featuring only handpicked members whom leaders could trust to follow orders. Prosecutors say this group, which grew to several hundred members nationwide, became the “fighting force” that was the backbone of the Proud Boys’ presence on Jan. 6. That decision by Tarrio belies the defense’s claim, Mulroe argued, that the Proud Boys were merely a glorified men’s club, where members goaded each other and used overheated language but did little more than drink and talk.
“You want to call this a drinking club? You want to call this a men’s fraternal organization? Let’s call this what it is,” Mulroe said. “The Ministry of Self-Defense was a violent gang that came together to use force against its enemies.”
At the heart of the case is the group’s symbiotic relationship with Trump. Prosecutors showed how Trump’s debate-stage call in September 2020 for the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by” became a slogan for the group and fueled recruitment efforts in the months before Jan. 6. And when Trump called for a “wild” protest on Jan. 6, the Proud Boys saw it as a call to arms that they were prepared to answer.
“They clearly believed their club was so much better off with Donald Trump in the White House,” Mulroe said.
Much of the government’s closing argument reconstructed the Proud Boys’ descent on the Capitol on Jan. 6. Just two days earlier, Tarrio was arrested for burning a Black Lives Matter flag during the December pro-Trump rally in Washington — an arrest he saw coming due to a longstanding relationship with a D.C. police lieutenant. So on the day of the attack, Nordean assembled hundreds of Proud Boys at the Washington Monument early in the morning.
Rather than attend Trump’s long-planned speech nearby, Nordean marched the group to the Capitol, arriving just before 1 p.m., while Trump was still speaking. Mulroe emphasized that the Proud Boys’ arrival turned a relatively placid crowd into a rabid one. Soon, Biggs would huddle briefly with a member of the crowd, Ryan Samsel, who would just moments later charge at the police lines and provoke the first breach of Capitol grounds.
Members of the Proud Boys march followed the mob across the toppled barricades and arrived at a second police line, where Biggs and Nordean helped the mob disassemble a black metal fence, Mulroe said. As the mob amassed at the foot of the Capitol, police began to launch crowd control munitions. Amid the chaos that ensued, Pezzola helped wrest free a riot shield from a Capitol Police officer that he quickly carted away. After another Proud Boy, Daniel Scott, helped instigate a breach of the final police line between the mob and the Capitol, Pezzola rushed through the opening and reached the base of the building, where he used the shield to shatter a Senate-wing window.
“The Capitol Building would be breached in more places than you can count,” Mulroe said. “Pezzola was the first.”
The prosecutors’ close was the government’s first bid to stitch together months of complex and often disjointed testimony caused by numerous delays and disruptions to the trial. Mulroe contended that two of the defendants who testified — Rehl and Pezzola — lied on the stand as they defended their conduct. And he highlighted newly discovered evidence that Rehl appeared to discharge pepper spray at police as they fended off the mob.
Pezzola, Nordena, Biggs and Rehl all entered the Capitol while Tarrio — barred from D.C. due to his arrest two days earlier — monitored events from a hotel in Baltimore. Once inside, they milled around with the crowd until reinforcements helped police eject the mob from the Capitol.
“They went into that building like soldiers into a conquered city,” Mulroe said, noting that Pezzola took a selfie video while smoking a cigar and Biggs grabbed items from a Senate convenience store.
“This is a national disgrace,” Mulroe said. “To them, this was mission accomplished. They had done it. They had stopped the certification of the election.”
Defense attorneys have long contended that prosecutors have exaggerated the Proud Boys’ role on Jan. 6, turning their heated — but First Amendment-protected — rhetoric into the basis for grave criminal charges. There was no direct evidence that the Proud Boys leaders had hashed out a plan of action to attack the Capitol, they say.
When it was his turn, Nordean’s attorney Nick Smith said prosecutors spent the bulk of their case “manipulating” the jury to hate the defendants, in part to cover up holes in their case. He said they repeatedly referenced Trump and tried to link him to the Proud Boys to stoke the jury’s anger. They also repeatedly played videos and displayed images of violence caused by others at the Capitol, he said.
“Like the director of an action movie, the government wants you to feel this way,” Smith said. “It’s loud and high octane. … It’s guilty by association.”
Smith sought to inject doubt into the jury’s mind about the case the government laid out. Key prosecution witnesses had cut generous plea deals with the Justice Department. At times, Nordean, Biggs and others appeared to make comments or take actions that were contrary to any purported plan to go inside the Capitol and stop the transfer of power.
“It doesn’t make any sense,” Smith repeatedly intoned, describing the defendants as “confused, unarmed men walking around the mall. … This case cannot make these men responsible for everything other people did on January 6.”
[ad_2]
#Donald #Trumps #army #Prosecutors #close #seditious #conspiracy #case #Proud #Boys #leaders
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
Remains of the ill-fated army truck that went up in flames after suspected militants attacked it in Bhata Dhurian area in Mendhar (Poonch) on April 20, 2023. Six soldiers were killed and one survived injured.
In anticipation of preparations for the G20 meeting in Kashmir, suspected militants targeted an army vehicle killing five of the six soldiers. The surviving soldier is battling for his life in the hospital. The attack occurred at Bhatta Durrian (Mendhar), where four soldiers were killed in a gun battle with the militants in October 2021. Army statement said militants hiding behind bushes and a cluster of trees opened firing on the Army truck moving between Bhimber Gali and Poonch at Bhatta Durrian on April 20, 2023, at 3 pm taking advantage of rains and thunderstorms. While one militant used grenades to stop the truck, another opened calibrated fire towards its fuel tank, triggering a massive blaze as yet another militant opened fire at onboard soldiers. Four of five Rashtriya Rifles soldiers are from Punjab.
In order to hunt down the assailants, authorities have suspended civil traffic in the Bata-Doriya area. An NIA team is visiting the area for investigations.
How will the attack impact the cold relations between India and Pakistan remains to be seen. Interestingly, Pakistan foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is expected to lead a delegation to India for a Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit on May 5 that Goa hosts. It would be the first visit by any Pakistani Foreign Minister since Hina Rabbani Khar’s in 2011.
LG Manoj Sinha says Kashmir will produce Mustard oil worth Rs 800 crore in 2023.
PUNJAB
State Investigation Agency
In a first of its kind, Jammu and Kashmir Police’s State Investigation Agency (SIA) has attached a Punjab resident’s property for “his links with militants”. Identified as Amarbhir Singh of Baba Darshan Singh Enclave at Ram Tirath Mahal in Amritsar, he is living in Dubai but is wanted in many cases in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir. The SIA seizure with the help of Punjab Police was in a case of recovery of Rs 15 lakh hawala money at Nagrota from two alleged JeM associates Parvez and Farooq, who were arrested in 2021. This is the first action taken by the SIA outside Jammu and Kashmir.
Formally opened on November 4, 2022, the Tele Mental Health Assistance and Networking Across States (Tele-MANAS) has received 10000 calls from people in distress. Women callers constitute 70 per cent.
SRINAGAR
High Court of Jammu and Kashmir
The High Court has quashed a series of detention orders under the Public Safety Act, including the one against journalist Fahad Shah. In the case of Srinagar resident Peerzada Mohammed Waseem, the court said the prosecution accused him of rioting and stone pelting in 2020 when the person was in jail since 2017. “How can a detenue already in jail and facing trial participate in rioting and stone pelting during that intervening period?” Judge Justice Wasim Sadiq Nargal asked.
Wildlife officials said the direct sightings during the biennial census reveal improved numbers of Hangul within Dachigam National Park. In 2021, 261 Hangul were counted.
KASHMIR
Ramzan 2023 was the most peaceful month of fasting in the last more than three decades. In Kashmir, there were no killings of militants or by militants. There was one encounter but the militants managed to flee. In Ramzan 2022, 19 militants, two civilians and two security personnel forces also lost their lives in militant violence. More than 20 militants were killed in Ramzan 2021.
Peace, however, did not help markets that remained struggling to earn. The inclement weather added to their crisis. Even though the month of fasting was extended to 30 days, the last days did not help the market revive. Lal Chowk remained deserted unlike in the past and part of the credit goes to the ongoing smart city works.
However, Ramzan 2023 would be remembered for the mess that Kashmir’s so-called grand Mufti, Nasirul Islam landed in. He was in a controversy at the beginning of the month when he declared that his “moon-sighting committee” could not locate the Ramzan crescent. People defied his claim and started fasting as Shia ulema had moon-sighting evidence. On April 19, a brief recording came on social media in which he was saying that his committee could not locate the crescent of Shawaal month on April 20, so Eid is being celebrated on Saturday, This triggered a serious controversy leading Nasir to send a formal request to Jammu and Kashmir Police to investigate the issue. He said he had been recorded for Doordarshan in advance. DD insider confirmed it saying this is the tradition. “We keep two versions recorded and then run the one that he permits at the appropriate time,” an insider said. The question, however, remains – how can anybody record something in advance when he or she lacks knowledge of it? On the flip side of it, police have investigated the issue and have answers. Will they ever reveal? Wait.
Against Rs 217.43 crore, the Government generated Rs 260.94 crore with the e-auction of 257 retail liquor vends for the year 2023-24. Some more vends are auctioned soon.
KISHTWAR
A youth was killed and his brother survived injured in a mysterious blast in their own kitchen at Chitran village in Kishtwar’s Simbol area. The dead young man was identified as Shabir Ahmad, 20, and the one struggling to survive as Mohammad Yaseen, 18. Gucchi mushroom hunters, the two brothers had located something in the hospital and were heating it when it exploded. In another interesting incident, Ghulam Hassan, an ex-serviceman, from Angloe area opened fire on his wife, Rubeena, and Yasmeena, his minor daughter and rendered them injured. He used a 12-bore rifle. He lost his cool when his wife and daughter pleaded with the drunkard not to have liquor. Now, he is being tried for an attempt to murder.
Kashmir’s mutton requirements are expected to go up post-Eid from the prevailing 35 truckloads of sheep a day to 160.
DELHI
Jammu and Kashmir’s erstwhile foot-in-mouth governor, Satya Pal Malik has landed in yet another controversy for accusing Prime Minister, Narendra Modi and NSA, Ajit Doval, of making him silent on February 2019 Pulwama attack. The tragedy pushed India and Pakistan to the brink of a war in which the US had to intervene.
“CRPF personnel had requested aircraft to transport their personnel because such a large convoy does not normally travel by road. They had made the request to the Home Ministry, then held by Rajnath Singh, who refused. If they had asked me, I would have provided the aircraft. They had requested five aircraft,” Malik told Karan Thapar. “I told the Prime Minister the same evening (after the incident) that it happened due to our mistake. If we had provided them with aircraft, it could have been averted. He (PM) told me, ‘You keep quiet for the time being.’ I had already told one or two TV channels about it. He (PM) said, ‘Don’t talk about it. This is something else…’. Ajit Doval (NSA) also told me the same thing, ‘Satpalbhai (brother), you don’t talk about it. Please stay silent on this’.” Malik said, it took him a bit of time to realize “that the blame will now be shifted towards Pakistan, so I better keep quiet.”
Though Malik made several claims and told some very interesting stories about the politics in Delhi, it was the Pulwama attack that people have focused on. Congress is seeking a white paper on the Pulwama attack that killed nearly 40 CRPF personnel, days ahead of the national election. “Satya Pal Malik has brought out the explosive satya (‘truth’) which is more explosive than the Pulwama explosion itself…but this is nothing new. People were aware at the time that some Indo-Pakistan incident would be manufactured for political gain. Was the terror attack staged with the aim of winning elections?” Shiv Sena leader and Rajya Sabha MP, Sanhjay Rauat has said. “Was there a plot to get 40 jawans killed for political gain? We [Opposition] had repeatedly tried to ask such questions at the time but were silenced by the ruling party and branded as ‘traitors’.”
The anti-climax of the controversy is that even Pakistan is using Malik’s statement. “His [Malik’s] disclosures demonstrate how the Indian leadership has habitually used the bogey of terrorism from Pakistan to advance its sham victimhood narrative and the Hindutva agenda, clearly for domestic political gains,” a statement from Pakistan’s foreign ministry said.
Nearly four lakh people have visited Tulip Garden in the last month.
KATHUA
Kathua
An embarrassed Jammu and Kashmir government had no option but to admit that little Seerat Naaz’s video clip about the condition of the government high school in Lohai-Malhar is “not far from truth”. Naaz addressed the Prime Minister in the 5-minute video that she shot and commented on. After introducing herself as a student of the particular school, she goes on a virtual tour of her school. “Modi-ji, mujhe na aap se ek baat kehni hain (Modi-ji, there is something I need to tell you.)” Seerat then pans the phone camera towards an uncovered concrete surface, right in front of two closed doors which she identifies as the “principal’s office and the staff room” and comments: “Dekho humara farsh kitna ganda ho chuka hain. Humein yahan niche bithate hain (Look how dirty the floor is. They make us sit here).”
“Chalo mein aap ko bari si building dikhati hoon aapne school ki (let me show you the big building where our school is),” she goes on, “Yeh dekho, pichle 5 saalon se, dekho kitni gandi building hain yahan pe. Chalo mein aap ko andar se dikhati hoon (Look how unclean the building has been for the last 5 years. Let me take you on a tour of the inside of the building)”.
It was againt this backdrop, she makes a reqiest: “Please, aap se na request karti hoon, aap na achha sa school bana do. Humein niche baithna parta hain aur hamari uniform gandi ho jati hain aur phir humein Mamma marti hain. Humare pas bench bhi nahin hain (I request you to build us a nice school. We have to sit on the floor because of which our uniforms get dirty. My mother often scolds me for this. We don’t even have benches to sit on).” She adds: “Please Modi-ji, mein aap se request karti hoon ki achha sa bana de yeh school. Meri bhi baat sun lo (Please Modi-ji, I am requesting you to make my school better. Please grant my wish)”. She even films the toilet: “Dekho, humara kitna ganda toilet aur tut gaya hain (Look how filthy and broken our toilet is).” She then directs her lens towards a pit where the students go to relieve themselves. “Humein iss naali mein jana parta hain (We need to head to this pit to relieve ourselves.)”
The Government will now offer an ex-gratia relief of Rs 25 lakh (Rs 20 lakh out of UT Budget and Rs 5 lakh out of SRE) to the families of personnel who die in the line of duty and are from Jammu and Kashmir.
Army Recruitment Rally for enrolling 600 porters for Army Porter Company is to be held at Uri under the aegis of HQ 12 Infantry Brigade, District Baramulla (J&K) w.e.f 25th – 27th April 2023.
Last date for submission of form is 24th April 2023.
Date of reporting of selected persons 25th April 2023.
Individual to be citizen of India.
Medically Fit
Should be between 18 year to 40 years of age.
Rs 18000/- Basic Pay, DA & Field allowance as applicable.
Application Form for Recruitment as Porter with 06 x Passport size photographs.
Next of Kin Certificate (along with photographs duly attested by Sarpanch).
Character Certificate duly signed by Sarpanch
Agreement: Contractual Employment.
Police Verification Form duly signed by Police Authority.
Medical Certificate from Civil Govt. Hospital.
Date of Birth Certificate.
HEFT Mandate Form duly signed by Bank Authority.
Original and 5x Photocopy of each of Voter Identity Card, Ration Card & Aadhar Card duly signed attested by Sarpanch.
Interested individuals are to be present at Uri Mil Station at DAGGER SPORTS GROUND IN FRONT OF ARMY GOODWILL SCHOOL on 25 Apr 2023 by 09:00 AM,
Individuals not in possession of proper documents & fails to report on due date are liable to be disqualified & replaced.
SRINAGAR: On Saturday, Lieutenant General Upendra Dwivedi, the Northern Army Commander, visited the site of the militant attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district, where five Indian soldiers were killed.
He reviewed the security in the border area and the ongoing combing operation to track down the militants who ambushed the Army truck on Thursday.
Top security officials, including BSF Director General S L Thaosen and ADGP Mukesh Singh, also visited the spot. The soldiers were from a Rashtriya Rifles unit deployed for counter-terror operations. Security forces have launched a manhunt in the dense forest area of Bhata Dhurian to nab the militants.
A high alert has been sounded in the twin border districts of Rajouri and Poonch. Fourteen people were detained for questioning, but some have been released.
There will be no Eid-al-Fitr in Sangiote village. A pale of gloom engulfed the village after news of the Poonch terror attack reached its villagers.
“We have not celebrated Eid with any pomp and show. We just offered prayers. The people are grieved over the martyrdom of jawans, who were bringing material for our Iftar on Thursday evening,” Sangiote Sarpanch Mukhtiar Khan told PTI over the phone from his home.
Expressing solidarity with the Indian Army and the families of the jawans, he said an Iftar was scheduled in the village on Thursday evening and the jawans were ferrying vegetables, fruits and other materials in the truck from Bhimber Gali camp when they came under attack at Bhata Dhurian.
The soldiers were from a Rashtriya Rifles unit deployed for counter-terror operations.
The whole village stands with the Army, Khan said.
“After Eid prayers, we are staying back at our homes and there will be no celebrations like visiting relatives, distributing sweets, wearing new clothes or taking children outside as is the practice on the first day of the festival,” he said.
Amir Khan, another villager, said after the terrorist attack they had convened a condolence meeting. “The participants were unanimous in condemning the terrorist attack and decided to restrict Eid celebrations to namaz’ only,” he said.
Saddam Hussain said a company of the Rashtriya Rifles is deployed in the village and enjoys cordial ties with the villagers. “The soldiers usually distribute fresh fruits, including watermelons, to the residents for Iftar’ and nobody had imagined such an attack on them just two days ahead of Eid,” he said.
The Bhata Dhurian forest area has for long remained a preferred infiltration route for terrorists from across the Line of Control because of its topography, dense forest cover and natural caves.
In October 2021, nine soldiers were killed in two major gunfights with terrorists within four days in the forest area during a search operation, which continued for over three weeks with no trace of terrorists.
Jammu, Apr 21: Security forces have detained many persons in connection with the investigation of a case involving Thursday’s militant attack on an army vehicle on the national highway in Poonch in which five army personnel lost their lives.
The attack was carried out in the dense forests between Bhata Dhurian and Bhimber Gali. An army vehicle was moving towards Bhata Dhurian and it was ambushed by militants and the vehicle caught fire.
Officials told the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) that the questioning of the detained people is going on.
On the other hand, the search operation launched in the area entered the second day with more teams of the army and police being deployed.
Vehicular movement on the national highway 144-A, which connects Jammu with Rajouri and Poonch districts, has also been kept suspended on the 25-kilometre stretch from Bhimber Gali to Bhata Dhurian.
Police have put up barricades both on the Bhimber Gali side and Jarran Wali Gali side of the highway, blocking it for the movement of vehicles.
Director General of Police (DGP) Dilbagh Singh as well as a high-level team of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) visited the army vehicle attack site. The NIA team examined the site and reviewed the overall circumstances.
The DGP was accompanied by ADG Jammu zone Mukesh Singh. He later reached Rajouri where he chaired a series of meetings with security force officers and reviewed the overall security situation and aggressive counter-militancy operations launched in the region.
The fallen soldiers include Hav Mandeep Singh, L/NK Kulwant Singh, Sep Harkrishan Singh and Sep Sewak Singh, all natives of Punjab and L/NK Debashish Biswal, a native of Odisha.
Army on Friday also held a wreath-laying ceremony for five soldiers who lost their lives. The wreath laying was held in Army’s General Hospital Rajouri. Senior officers from the army, police and civil administration also offered tributes to these soldiers—(KNO)
Poonch: Security forces have launched a massive search operation in the dense forests of the Bata-Doriya area after a terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch killed five Indian Army personnel and injured one, officials said on Friday.
The entire area has been cordoned off while drones and sniffer dogs are being used to sniff out the terrorists that might be hiding in the area, they said.
Officials said that a high alert has been sounded in the twin border districts of Rajouri and Poonch amid close vigil along the Line of Control. Traffic on the Bhimber Gali-Poonch road was stopped following the incident and people have been advised to go to Poonch via Mendhar, they said.
According to officials, an NIA team will visit the site of the terror attack for inspection.
Five Army personnel were killed and another was seriously injured on Thursday after their vehicle caught fire following a terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch, the Army said. The soldiers were from a Rashtriya Rifles unit deployed for counter-terror operations.
The Army said the vehicle the soldiers were travelling in came under fire from unidentified terrorists and it caught fire because of the likely use of grenades.
“Chief of the Army Staff General Manoj Pande and all ranks of Indian Army salute the supreme sacrifice of five Indian Army bravehearts, Hav Mandeep Singh, L/Nk Debashish Baswal, L/Nk Kulwant Singh, Sep Harkrishan Singh and Sep Sewak Singh who laid down their lives in the line of duty at Poonch Sector yesterday,” the Additional Directorate General of Public Information (ADGPI) said in a tweet.
Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha said he was anguished at the loss of lives of the brave soldiers. “Their rich service to the nation will never be forgotten. My thoughts are with the bereaved families,” he said in a tweet.
Political parties have condemned the attack. On Thursday evening, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal staged a protest on the Tawi bridge in Jammu city and raised anti-Pakistan slogans.
Srinagar, April 20 (GNS): Five soldiers were killed and another injured in a militant attack in Poonch district, army said on Thursday.
“Today, at approximately 1500 hours, one Army vehicle, moving between Bhimber Gali and Poonch in the Rajauri sector was fired on by unidentified (militants), taking advantage of heavy rains and low visibility in the area. The vehicle caught fire, due to likely use of grenades by (militants),” army said in a statement.
“Five personnel of the Rashtriya Rifles Unit deployed for Counter Terrorist operations, in this area, have unfortunately lost their lives in the incident,” it said, adding, “Another seriously injured soldier was evacuated immediately to the Army Hospital at Rajouri and is under treatment.” Operations are in progress to locate the perpetrators, the army said.
