Army, IAF ready for Pak response

Pakistan’s Army is under pressure from the domestic front to do “something” after the Centre revoked Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). The Indian armed forces are already on high alert and continuously monitoring all moves of the Pakistan Army.

“The Indian Armed Forces is poised to thwart any threat that will emerge from Pakistan,” said sources in the defence establishment here.

Pakistan Army Chief Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa had held a meeting with his top commanders on Tuesday to devise a strategy on how to respond to India’s move on Jammu and Kashmir. “The Pakistan Army firmly stands by the Kashmiris... we are prepared and shall go to any extent to fulfil our obligations in this regard,” a statement by the Pakistan Army had said after the meeting.

Indian security establishment sources said that the Pakistani Army is activating terrorist groups to launch an attack on India. There are intelligence reports that many terror launchpads near LoC have become active in recent days. “We are expecting that Pakistan-supported terrorists will try to carry out a high profile and sensational attack on mainland India (South of Pir Panjal Range),” said a senior official in the Indian Army. The terrorists in Kashmir could also carry out IEDs attacks on the security forces in run-up to the Independence Day.

The Indian Army has already foiled two infiltration bids by terrorists in Uri and Machhal sectors of Jammu and Kashmir. In both incidents, a group of 5-6 terrorists had tried to infiltrate into India.

Security forces are also keeping a close eye on “troublemakers” so that the peace in the Valley is not disturbed.

Security agencies have been planning a number of contingency plans in Kashmir in the past one year. “These contingency plans also included the possibility of Kashmiri separatist leaders like Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Yasin Malik being killed and then how to deal with the situation,” said sources.

Pakistan could withdraw its Army from Afghanistan border and deploy it along the border with India to put pressure on the US, which is negotiating a peace deal with Taliban.

The Pakistan Army could also try to heat up the line of control through heavy shelling and use its Border Action Teams (BAT) to attack Indian outposts.

The Army had earlier this month said that it foiled BAT's attempt to attack one of its forward posts in Keran sector by killing five to seven Pakistani soldiers and militants.

July had seen the highest number of ceasefire violations this year at 272, with Pakistan using heavy artillery in the last week of the month against India. There has been more than 1,600 ceasefire violations this year.

The Indian Air Force is also on high alert and has been carrying out combat air patrolling in J&K.