It is very unfortunate that at a time when India and the whole world are fighting the COVID-19 menace, Pakistan continues to foment trouble and resorts to firing heavy calibre artillery, killing innocent Kashmiris, Army Chief Gen. Manoj Naravane said in Kashmir on Friday. He asserted that all terror launch pads across the Line of Control (LoC) were active.
“While we are busy not only helping our own citizens but the rest of the world by sending medical teams and exporting medicines, Pakistan, on the other hand, is only exporting terror. This doesn’t auger well,” he told news agency ANI.
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“Even in hinterland, Pakistan-backed terrorists are resorting to targeting innocent civilians with the aim of coercing them into following their azadi narrative,” he stated.
Gen. Naravane is on a two-day Kashmir visit to review the security situation following the recent escalation in infiltration attempts and Cease-Fire Violations (CFV), including exchange of heavy artillery fire, that has resulted in civilian causalities on the Indian side.
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Gen. Naravane said local formation commanders were implementing the summer strategy based on various assessments. “Options short of war are available to us to provide befitting response to our adversaries,” he noted.
On COVID-19 cases in the over 1.3 million Army, he said that so far, there have been only eight positive cases, out of whom two are doctors and one nursing assistant. “Four others are responding well to treatment and we had one case in Ladakh. He is now free of Coronavirus and rejoined duty,” he added.
