Kshmir: Army’s claim over Keran operations under cloud

mangaloretoday.com

New Delhi, Oct 20: Nearly a fortnight after the army operations were called off in Keran sector, questions have cropped up over what happened during the long intrusion by infiltrators from Pakistan believed to be from its special forces.

 

The army operations, which were said to have been stopped on October 8, continued even five days later till a joint team of BSF and army managed to reach the three border posts located in Shalabhatu, a village divided between Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir, official sources say.

Shalabatu village was one of the famous infiltration routes in early 1990s.

A report filed by central as well as state security agencies about the Keran encounter have picked holes in the army’s version of the episode.

However, the army rejected all doubts expressed over the Keran operation and asserted that the troops on the ground were dominating the Line of Control (LoC) and regularly approaching their own posts all the time.

The army’s narrative that it killed eight terrorists around the site of infiltration was nailed in the FIRs filed by its units with the local police that said the causalities were reported from three different places that are far off from the Shalabatu village.

The three posts -- Khokhri, Kulari and Mangerta -- jointly held by the BSF and army were taken over last Saturday.

In an email reply to questions, the Army Headquarters denied it and said, "This is incorrect. The troops on the ground were dominating the LoC and regularly approaching own posts at all times."