30 Pak Frontline Villages Empty

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30 Pak villages on border evacuated

Arun Joshi

(Jammu, October 17)

Around 30 Pakistani villages facing India's Kanachak and Akhnoor

sectors on the international border appear to have been evacuated, a

senior BSF official told the Hindustan Times this evening.

For the past two days, following India's shelling at 11 Pakistan army

posts on Monday night, the seven-and-a-half km stretch between Gole

Pattan and Chicken Neck on the Pakistani side has been unusually

quiet. "These areas, from Pongar, Kundal, Bhaura and Dera on the

Pakistani side are densely populated," the official said.

 

But there has been no agricultural activity in the area, and even

stray cattle have not been sighted.

 

"It is abnormal. We have never seen such a thing happening before,"

sources said.

 

Indian forces apprehend that the Pakistan army may have got these

villages, with population close to 25,000, evacuated for some major

offensive against the Indian side. Or else the villagers themselves

suspected the moves of the Pakistan army and migrated.

 

Whatever the reason, the evacuation itself indicates that Pakistan is

preparing for something, the sources said. "We are on full alert," a

senior officer said.

 

The Pakistan army is now manning the front line, with only a minimal

presence of Pakistani Rangers, who usually guard the international

border. "The Rangers are not even manning bunkers and posts. This is

highly unusual," the sources said.

 

These developments are being seen in light of apprehensions that

Pakistan may launch counter strikes on India after having suffered

huge losses in Akhnoor and Mendhar sectors on Monday evening. "If

Pakistan retaliates, which we think it might, we are prepared," a

senior army officer said.

 

Meanwhile, army sources made it clear that the October 15 "punitive

action" was not just an isolated incident but "beginning of a

sustained campaign against infiltration and cross border terrorism".

 

They underlined the importance of such operations as "crucial" for

restoring normalcy in Jammu and Kashmir.