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MUZAFFARABAD: An Indian soldier has been captured by the Pakistan army, while Indian soldiers have also been killed in the episode of firing across the Line of Control, it emerged Thursday.
Confusion over the capture of the soldier persists as neither Indian nor Pakistani officials are issuing any official statements on the matter, as yet.
An Indian army official based in New Delhi said, “It is confirmed one soldier from 37 Rashtriya Rifles with weapons has inadvertently crossed over to the Pakistan side of the Line of Control”.
Avoiding connecting the capture to today's firing incident, he said such incidents of people including civilians crossing the frontier by mistake have happened in the past from both sides.
Building a case in favour of India, he added that those who strayed are returned.
“Pakistan has been informed [of the soldier's crossing] through the DGMO on hotline,” ANI News quoted Indian Army sources as saying.
Pakistan’s envoy confirms arrest of Indian soldier
Pakistan's Ambassador to the United Nations Dr Maleeha Lodhi, while talking to Al Jazeera, confirmed that Pakistan Army has "captured an Indian soldier who was trying to enter” into Pakistani territory.
Lodhi, however, denied that there was any surgical strike inside the territory of Pakistan, as claimed by the Indian forces.
“India is trying to divert global attention from the war crimes it is committing in occupied Kashmir, where more than a 100 people have been killed in cold-blood by Indian forces,” said the Pakistan's ambassador.
She said that India is trying to provoke a conflict with Pakistan to calm its domestic opinion, because even India’s domestic opinion is questioning its role in Kashmir. “My country [Pakistan] has exercised maximum restraint in the face of what happened in the early hours of Thursday.”
“What we saw on Thursday was cross border shelling, by mortar fire as well as small arms fire. We have captured one Indian soldier who was trying to cross while two Pakistani soldiers were martyred in cross border shelling. But there was no surgical strike inside territory controlled by Pakistan.”
“It is very irresponsible of India to act this way. We want the international community to urge restraint upon India,” she maintained.
Also read: What is a 'surgical strike'?
On Pakistan's side, two officials based in Chhamb sector said the Indian soldier with weapons was captured at 1330 local time on Thursday.
Separately, security sources confirmed the same to Dawn.com. The sources said a 22-year-old Indian soldier by the name Chandu Babulal Chohan was taken into custody by Pakistani forces.
They added that at least eight Indian soldiers were killed. The bodies of the Indian soldiers have not been recovered by the Indian Army from the site of the skirmishes at the LoC. Security sources claim an attempt to recover the bodies by the Indian Army has not been made yet as they fear coming under fire from Pakistan Army troops.
In his show Capital Talk on Geo News, Hamid Mir said that 14 Indian soldiers were killed in two sectors. Defense analyst Major General (Retd) Ijaz Awan, who was on his show, confirmed his claim.
Early morning firing
An exchange of fire between Pakistani and Indian LoC troops began at 2:30am and continued till 8:00am in the Bhimber, Hotspring, Kel and Lipa sectors in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, the ISPR statement said.
"Pakistani troops befittingly responded to Indian unprovoked firing on the LoC."
Shortly after the exchange of fire, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs and Ministry of Defence held a joint press conference in New Delhi in which DGMO Lt Gen Ranbir Singh alleged that surgical strikes were conducted by the Indian army on "terror launch pads along the LoC". The strikes will not continue, he said.
The Indian DGMO claimed that "some terrorist teams had positioned themselves at launchpads along the Line of Control".
"The Indian army conducted surgical strikes last night at these launchpads. Significant casualties have been caused to these terrorists and those who are trying to support them... The operations aimed at neutralising the terrorists have since ceased."
Pakistan rubbished the Indian claims of conducting a surgical strike.
"The notion of surgical strike linked to alleged terrorists bases is an illusion being deliberately generated by Indian to create false effects," a military statement said.
"This quest by the Indian establishment to create media hype by rebranding cross-border fire as a surgical strike is fabrication of the truth. Pakistan has made it clear that if there is a surgical strike on Pakistani soil, the same will be strongly responded."
The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) said Pakistan’s airspace would be safeguarded at any cost. "PAF is always alert and ready to issue a befitting response to foreign aggression," a spokesperson said.
Comments (176)
Lovely !
You don't mess with us, we may be 10th of your size but heart is like a ROARING LION.
Please no give PEACE a chance nothing will be left of region with WAR
Ok, anyone keeping scores!?
Its 2:1 so far... .Things can only escalate from here on. Or cooler heads from both sides can defuse the situation, before further bloodshed!?
Rational thinking critically required.
Stop this all!!!!
So sad for both nations
free him....
Indian Govt is playing with fire which will end up in nothing but loss of lives.
This is getting ridiculous. Both sides need to control their passions and re start the dialog.
Stop killing human in the name of country religion race. Shame on both countries there leaders and people. Respect human life.
welldone
Any escalation of conflict will seriously affect any investment in Pakistan.
india need to keep restraint...n pak treat the captive with geneva convention laws...we are professional army..tit for tat is no good...nobody is winning anything..calm down..pak informed india when terrorist infiltrated gujarat last time n india forces captured them....you can work together..but need to treat each other with respect.
@Zarak Sir killing and WARS are never lovely. Lets wish that sense prevails with India. LOC is very strange line where at some points India is on hills with Pakistani positions directly in line of fire and vice versa. So this killing saga will just fuel more tension as Pakistan is equipped enough to defend and respond. Long war against terrorism has mad Pakistan armed forces well trained rugged and equipped. but WAR IS NOT SOLUTION
@Zarak "Lovely !"
Not so! it is sad that precious lives are being wasted to satisfy media sensation and politician egos. Please think about all the families of dead. It does not matter if the dead are Indians or Pakistanis,
@ravi sir you forgot to mention and India.
Please stop it. This could be "thin edge of the wedge" Majority on the both sides want peace.
We need PEACE please! No more war
We both are killing each other soldiers stop this please these are our families India or Pak soldier they are same
So how did he end up.on this side of the LOC?? The two sides need to behave maturely and such bravado for political gains is shamefull. What a waste of precious lives.
Now, as the updated news have begun to stream in from LOC,the hollowness of Indian claims will stand exposed. Modi government should stop fooling its citizenry.
Indian is to be blame the most. Show some mercy on Indian solider.
Pakistan is doing pretty well both diplomatically and strategically.
It's high time Indian politicians realize that the issue of Kashmir needs to be resolved.
Stop this madness. It does not make sense provoking India. We need cooler heads amongst our politicians. When will we learn .....
I as a common Indian want a friendship with a common Pakistani. I live in Europe and here my neighbours are from Pakistan and we are good friends. No issues ever arised between us. We help each other and live in harmony. Looking at the comments below I could see a common man in Pakistan also wants a peace. Need to stop the bloodshed from both the ends. which only governments can do!!!
This is not right, India must think over it. Please come back to the TABLE, discuss, negotiate, bargain, and think for the people of sub-continent, Poor people across the border. PM of Pakistan, you can take initiative, act and resolve these issues.
Pakistan Zindabad!!!
@natey Sir this provocation was started, boosted and owned by India. This time Pakistan is acting bit mature and with cool head no matter it is stand on Kashmir or statements by government and diplomatic officials. India is stance on Kashmir and her treatment to them is inhuman this uprising in Kashmir was indigenous and triggered by India killing of Burhan Wani it had nothing to do with Pakistan but India started abusing Pakistan just to hide her failure and atrocities in Kashmir
Pakistan Zindabaad! Pakistan has been time and again saying to India not to ruin the peace prospects but to no avail. Now they will know and realize.
Bad news. India is not coming to its senses. Modi and Indian media has put the entire India into war frenzy.
well done
Peace
but why so late when it happened last night
Very very sad .. I am not happy . I don't need war in Pakistan. Please give hope another chance. See Iraq Syria and Libya. Nothing left there . Why these politicians have mega egos..please sit together. Stop being ridiculous with loosing lives on either side...
Plz stop this .Stay cool.
Successful Defense by Pakistani Army,
Stop this stupidity, common people want PEACE.
God Bless and Protect Pakistan Army
@Adil Jadoon Agreed that it is loss of precious life and every human life must be respected but to answer your last point how he ended up across LOC as India thought to teach Pakistan lesson last night and as per their claims they attacked across LOC
Action and Reaction, I suppose.
It happened last night. Why late disclosure
Well done BJP and Modi
I am confused. India said that they did an operation "Along" the border and killed 40 "terrorists" and 2 soldiers. Pakistan said that there was no cross border movement - just firing and two of its soldiers were killed. Now Pakistan says that it captured one alive - so where was he? across the border? I suppose both sides are lying and jingoistic, tv loving audiences of both countries are merrily going along
Sounds like a befitting response.
Mature diplomacy by Pakistan, after giving opponent complete chance for propaganda, then expose them.
Love it.
All sorts of political bravados lead to desaster. One must avoid this by sitting together and talking about the existing problems and solving them with a rational compromise.
@Indian ......To let Indian media and government huff and puff and then prove them wrong in a cool and calculated manner!
I'm appalled at anyone from both sides cheering the bloodshed and tit for tat retaliation.
A single bullet fired in anger and a single life lost for sheer stupidity is too much! Soon it could go up to 10, 20 or 100 on either side.... How 'lovely' would that be?
Both sides are using jingoism to score points, by killing each other's soldiers. There will be no winners in this. Mark my word!
Well.this was started by india and poor soldiers lost there life.they had a family too.peacee is what we need.india should calm its media .things are quite calm in pak related to india.
"An eye for an eye, leaves everybody blind"
Only politicians can bring countries together and not people to people contact understand!
Ok. We need to stop this NOW
GOOD JOB PAKISTAN ARMY. PROUD OF YOU
in the end no one wins only the dead loose while their families suffer without an end will the leaders sit back and think it over
Send back the Indian jawan. Why should he pay for his PMs folly?
Every other person on this forum is a security expert ....
This not a good strategy for face saving for actions in Indian held Kashmir and security lapse in recent brigade hq, this will bring more bloodshed. INDIANs started it and they have to stop it, Pakistan even wants can't stop it as its matter of self defense and national integrity.
@Straighforward : My friend you are absolutely correct. We have the same situation in the US. God bless you.
@Umreekan_Sundi First do not confuse the terms like Border, Working Boundary and LOC let me help you Border is between India and Pakistan, Working Boundary between Punjab and Kahmir and LOC is the line which divided Kashmir and it is not border.
Long live Pakistan powerful army.
India follows Mahatma Gandhi, we want peace. War is not a solution, only families of common men will suffer.
Now, both countries are on a slippery slow. It's time to let go the madness.
India and its politicians are openly admitting about a surgical strike and crossing over the LOC into Pakistan; Thus their soldier was captured. Now, when Pakistan retaliates and hopefully they will do, Indians and their proxies and masters should not complain about it to Pakistan.
@ravi war won't affect Indian economy??
Grow up and realise.. Indian economy is more at risk from free fall as western investors don't like volatility.. China will still invest along with military support into CPEC.
How come he is captured if he has not crossed?
Long live Pakistan Army,Long live Pakistan.
I still believe we should give peace a chance. As a Pakistani I urge people from both sides to fight for peace and not fight with each other.
stop this nonsense war. we want peace
Good job done by Pakistan Army. India under Modi is leaving no chance to harm Pakistan on every front. India intends to turn Pakistan into a desert by stopping rivers water
No matter who - anyone who has an ill eye towards Pakistan, will be destroyed. Period.
This is very troubling. Both sides need to stop this RIGHT NOW!!
Let him go. In the scheme of things he probably has a family who is very concerned over him.
None of the countries is doing holly,but loss of lives and increasing the everlasting hate and fight between the two nations
Pak Army You Beauty!
The best thing Pakistan can do is to hand back this solider as a good will gesture...hopefully the two countries will then see that these border skirmish are pointless.
Pakistan - you really need to publicly denounce all terorist organisation from its soil. Look at were the country is now and were it could have been.
India - You need to act with restraint and maturity - war mongering and defamatory remarks only esclate the situation.
READ ALL THE POSTS FROM THE PEACE LOVING PEOPLE FROM BOTH SIDES ENOUGH IS ENOUGH....ITS TIME TO GIVE PEACE A GO.
We dont talk, we dont create hype, neither we have bollywood type film industry. We just let our actions do the talking. Long live Pakistan armed forces.
@ravi "Any escalation of conflict will seriously affect any investment in Pakistan" why only Pakistan is India immune to it ?
There you go India. You can blame Modi and the willing and immature Indian media for this over the top jingoism and cries for war. Pakistan offered to jointly investigate the Uri attack or get an independent body which was rejected by India. You could have left it at diplomatic tit for tat by withdrawing from SAARC which you already did but the Indian media was asking for blood.
Well now you got blood ... on both sides. Try to understand one thing, Pakistan will NOT let you cross the border and attack without serious retaliation. Pakistan is not Myanmar so don't live under any illusions.
Please ask some cooler heads in your govt to put some sense into things. War is not good for either side. The more India provokes, the more consequences India will face.
Parade the soldier and show the world who is the aggressor.
@Umreekan_Sundi - excellent point.
Bullets and bombs will never bring prosperity and peace on either side but only despair. Be proud to save each other not the other way around.
@M. Malik : First of all this is very insensitive of us to talk like that. These soldiers have families and we need to opt for peace on both the sides as it is only going to bring more misery to the common people while these politicians continue to play their sick games. May peace prevail in all conditions and lives of humans are not wasted for some twisted political concept.
@Jason Most likely they will after questioning him and some assurances in return.
Those who lost there everything learn lesson from them, see middle east lost its peace for the sake of war . Those hatered must be aware for sake of some people you cannot drag worst situation for all common mans. Even learn from history how british do with us even we are in large in population. When we both in rest part of world we best friends of each other .. let talk peace not destruction..
@Jason Sir why not this concern for those two Pakistani Soldiers who were duty bound to defend their positions. They also had families I am against WAR but WAR and EMOTIONS have nothing common. Indian soldier is captured when India attacked Pakistani positions so he must be dealt in a way Military deals with such captured soldiers according to Geneva conversions
You made my day Army boys.....PAKISTAN ZINDABAD....WELLDONE JAWANS.
HEART SALUTE FROM ZEALOT
This proves that the surgical strikes did happen. Cross border shelling does not result in soldiers being captured.
@Hamdard "It does not make sense provoking India" provoking India ! who started all this nonsense ? and whose media and politicians are fuming fire ? it is Indian not Pakistani politicians or media kindly compare both
Beware of our tigers across the border..!
This must be stopped as soon as possible, it's not going to benefit either side. No one is winner in the war, both side loose significantly for generations to come. We are NOT happy on killing or capturing of those Indian soldiers at all, period.
Very sad news; killing of soldiers on any side mean loss of human life and increase in problems. Please solve issues peacefully
@Jason - good thought Jason. Two Pakistani soldiers who was killed last night had also families, one of them three daughters.
Stop this madness Modi. We'll knew pan nationalism borders on extremism. We also knew hardliners have low intelligence quotient. Time to stop this by the saner elements in India, the president and the civil society.
@marcus Sir your comment seemed bit balance but you forgot to mention the root cause of all this trouble. KASHMIR do you really think that both the countries can live in PEACE without solving this very basic issue.
@marcus ...."Pakistan - you really need to publicly denounce all terorist organisation from its soil. Look at were the country is now and were it could have been."
And what about RSS,Shiv Sena and host of other Hindu extremist organizations and scores of vigilantes who don't allow even its minority to eat beef.
War has never been fruitful nor it will for humanity.It only brings destruction.
Shame on both Leaders , they don't know the value of human life........
Great response!!!!
IN the name of God stop behaving like children and come to your senses goes for both the country's leadership, there is no glory in killing each other.
Pakistan must retaliate if India crossed LOC. Retaliation should be strong and swift and Massive.
WELL DONE ARMY BOYS......
SALUTE YOU FROM HEART
ZEALOT
@PAKISTAN FIRST Did you just read the first line of my post and decided to post a comment??
Read the rest, to understand the gist of my remark!
@Patriot 4 in terms of area(800,000 and 3,200,000 sq km) and 6.5 in terms of population (200m and 1300m)
Agree with Nomi Goraya"give PEACE a chance". Come off your high horses!
Well done, The bravest of all time , The courageous Tigers Salute to you . I am so proud of you guys, Well done, do the same so no one will ever look with their nasty eyes to the Pak Land. SALute, love you
It was Modi who refused to talk and backed off from the SAARC conference, now all the responsibility for this bloodshed is on his shoulders. Modi is the one to be accused in this situation.
Good job Pakistan army.
It is not about which side killed how many soldiers of the other side because of the exchange of fire between India and Pakistan. I am sure both sides have sophisticated weapons which can kill thousands upon thousands of ordinary human beings of the planet.Between India and Pakistan, it should not be about of Balance of Terror as it used be between USA and Soviet Union. It is about the Rule of International Law.The policy makers of both the countries should become a bit flexible and find out the solution to the Kashmir problem. India is a larger country and has a solid tradition of democracy. It has a moral obligation to live up to the universally accepted principles.
@Nomi Goraya I do see your point. My view is that to deescalate things, we must show first step and say that we do not want war. We want to stabilize the situation. Capturing one soldier will not benefit Pakistan in any way, think about it. Someone has to make the first friendly move. Most of the conflict occurs due to Kashmir. How do you suggest we continue that approach while we have 90+% of the country lacking basic necessities. Similar story on the other side. We have to at the least not be enemies with our neighbors. We have to talk to them in a manner, which has mutual respect.
It is truly political shades But people of both nations love together forever
Both countries are hiding the truth and are just point scoring.
Peace is the best option for both countries.
pakistan is affected by terrorism more than others.
@arshad patel
I agree and respect your feelings. Please respect our feelings too. Respect has to be two-way street. Hope you get the point.
But it is claiming no casualties.
But india is claiming no casualties.
@Jason I think you are missing 1 great point here. Pakistan did not violate LOC or border, Its India so the first step taken is from India.
@Asif A. Shah not at all bro what about those 100 kashmiri peoples who were brutally killed by indian forces.
India has been doing terrorism in Pakistan for last decade to weaken Pakistan and thats the truth! we don't want any approval from world. We know whats truth.
what a waste - truly pathetic on part of both countries
@Jason Sir well said
Be it Pakistani or Indian soldiers who die, they are human lives lost with their parents, siblings and wives moaning their lost loved ones. Some good souls in India need to stop Mr. Modi from escalating the situation before it really becomes destructive.
Administrators on both the sides are wrong and playing with millions of lives, restraint is required on both the sides, both the countries can't afford a war at this time....n hate mongers, please behave humanely n pray for peace........
@Nomi Goraya I agree with you despite the hate the has been spilled over the last few weeks , war will not get us anywhere...
@Salma Shahid Agree. Let here be peace and harmony!!!!!
@M. Malik I could not agree more brother. No war I say. No war cess. No coffins. Please both sides. No war I say.
Leaders of both the countries should sit across the table, understand each others' compulsion and try to work out some middle path. It has to be a 'win some, loose some' solution.
we are with you pak army
the bottom line is this issue will not go away until the people of Kashmir have their right to self determination. Pakistan is wanting the indians to negotiate on this issue and is asking for a pleblicite. The indians refuse and continue to claim kashmir as theirs by force of 700,000 troops in Kashmir. The litmus test here is if Pakistan and India both vacated kashmir what would the Kashmiris choose? Give Kashmir its freedom to choose and india and Pakistan will have peace.
Peace is the only solution.
Don't mess with us. We're peace loving. But we're also professional in this regard. Pakistan zindabad Pak Army payendabad
@Dr.Arshad very nice comment Doctor jee
@Nomi Goraya that's expected.
Regardless - both sides need to come to their senses and deescalate. No lives should be lost on either side weather civil or military.
I feel the same for life losses from both sides. Please talk to each other.
People of the country just follow their leaders hence leaders should be responsible to bring peace and not war. Leaders should have friendly relationships between neighbors to prevent war, both neighboring counties should co-operate for peace.
@Patriot ok....
If Pakistan and India want peace, don't talk Kashmir. Just leave it as it is. That's the only way.
@Umreekan_Sundi exactly!
Unwarranted bravado from both the sides. Time both nations acted like Nations instead of kids. Time to show some restraint and statesmanship.
Whale cannot eat shark but a shark can destroy whale !!!
Tit for tit. Well done Pak Army.
No war please!!!!we need to feed our people first....we need to leave prosporous countries for our kids!!!its loose-loose......
@faisal nw time to sit and discuss or else will have bad impact on future generation too. War is not a solution. Foreigners are ready to sell their arms but that won't abolish the poverty from both the side. Common and educate pepole don't want any war but few are dominating will impact entire region.
why these two countries are behaving like street goons. show some maturity and stop killing people think about well being of the region.
@Patriot BBC and CNN World news have reported 2 Pakistani soldiers were killed nothing about Indian casualties. Please read neutral media as well.
@M. Malik -2 to -1 you mean. In war there are no positive scores.
There is lack of clarity in the article.
Our Pakistan Army is our pride. Long Live Pakistan Army. Pakistan Zindabad
What's war? Old men talking, young men dying ! STOP IT !
Unfortunate for both..
SHASHBAAASH - Whole Nation is proud of your courage.
Unnecessary adventurism from India. They need to put their house in order.
Kashmir is like a beautiful lady whom both Ind and Pak adore and can kill each other for her.
We don't see war but peace.War to death & death to sorrow.Both countries's officials should be calm.
@naji - Very true. good job
@marcus - correct.
@Indian : Right....
@sangun ...Pakistan will never ignore the cries and suffering of the kashmiri brothers and sisters!!
Indo-pak circus to fool the masses. Only god knows the truth.
@Faisal you have no idea who the fire is who's gonna burn..
@sangun There are no talks without Kashmir!
Remove Modi and everything will cool down.
@ravi when it comes to our national security we don't care about investments
Pakistan Zindabad!
God only knows what is the truth
Just wondering who's the liar .
I hope and pray that common sense will prevail
Well done Modi and BJP advisors. Another embarsaament for India
Two poor nations at play!
Pakistan is fortunate to have Raheel Sharif as the head of the armed forces during these critical times. He is the one really representing our country and not the toothless so-called elected politicians.
@Ghaznavi Very true.
@Umreekan_Sundi The indian soldier was captured on Pakistani territory while engaged in hostile activity.
@Zarak : strongly agree & support your view.
Very sad that it's come to this.