Kargil remains untouched as Pakistan continues firing along LoC
The Indian Army’s counter-fire was measured but effective on the eighth straight day of ceasefire violations
The 170-km mountain frontier in Ladakh’s Kargil sector is the only stretch of the Line of Control (LoC) untouched by the Pakistan Army’s spate of provocations in the aftermath of the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, even as the neighbouring army on Friday opened machine-gun fire on scores of tightly-held Indian positions in several forward areas in Jammu and Kashmir that it has brazenly targeted for more than a week, officials aware of the matter said.
The latest round of overnight ceasefire violations, a deliberate attempt to step up hostilities along the LoC in J&K, took place in sectors including Kupwara, Baramulla, Poonch, Naushera and Akhnoor; the development coming at a critical time when tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours are at their highest since the 2019 Pulwama terror strike, the officials said.
The Indian Army’s counter-fire was measured but effective on the eighth straight day of ceasefire violations.
The de-factor border in the Kargil sector is calm as the Pakistan Army cannot push in terrorist infiltrators because not only will it involve passing through some of the region’s most inhospitable terrain but also there no reception areas to plan further movement into J&K, said one of the officials, who asked not to be named.
“Ceasefire violations are mostly aimed at supporting infiltration attempts. The neighbouring army’s playbook doesn’t work in the Kargil sector,” he said. Stray ceasefire violations were last recorded there more than a decade ago, said a second official.
Terror launch pads and training camps are mostly located across the LoC in J&K.
Ceasefire violations are triggered for two reasons, said Lieutenant General DS Hooda (retd), a former Northern Army commander.
“The first when Pakistani posts fire to support infiltration of terrorists. The second reason is when casualties occur due to actions by terrorists or Pakistan Army regulars placing improvised explosive devices, carrying out ambushes or sniper action against Indian troops deployed at the LoC. This leads to retaliation against Pakistani posts. Such activities are more prevalent in sectors in J&K,” Hooda added.
Last year, India celebrated the landmark 25th anniversary of victory over Pakistan in the 1999 Kargil war. Twenty-six years ago, the army rewrote the rules of mountain warfare and beat astonishing odds to eject Pakistani soldiers from the dizzying heights occupied by them in the Kargil sector a few months after the signing of the Lahore peace declaration.
The sector stretches across key areas including Mashkoh, Dras, Kaksar, Batalik and Turtuk.
Alongside intensifying ceasefire violations, the Pakistan Army is also rushing reinforcements to bolster its posture along the LoC against the backdrop of New Delhi planning a military response to the Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 people.
At the heart of the Pakistani mobilisation are Chinese-origin SH-15 howitzers it began inducting three years ago and the eastward movement of some army elements from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to areas closer to the LoC, as reported by HT on Friday.
On Thursday, the Pakistan Army fired at Indian posts in the Kupwara, Uri and Akhnoor sectors. Two active terror launch pads at Leepa and Jura across the LoC face Kupwara, one of the sectors repeatedly targeted after the Pahalgam attack. There are more than 40 such staging areas in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir for terrorists attempting infiltration into J&K.
The Pakistan military was warned against the unprovoked firings along the LoC on Tuesday when a brigadier from the Indian Army’s directorate general of military operations spoke to his Pakistani counterpart over the hotline. The DGMO-level talks are scheduled every Tuesday.
The Pakistan Army, which has repeatedly targeted Indian posts after the Pahalgam terror attack, on Wednesday opened fire across the international border (IB) for the first time since April 22 in a brazen attempt to escalate hostilities. Pakistani soldiers had then fired at Indian positions along the IB in the Pargwal sector near Jammu, and along the LoC in sectors including Akhnoor, Naushera, Sunderbani, Baramulla and Kupwara, seeking to open a wider front to engage the Indian Army.
Pakistani troops violated the February 2021 ceasefire agreement around 15 times between January and early April 2025. But the repeated targeting of Indian posts along the LoC, and the IB on Wednesday, has sparked the most extensive cross-border exchange since the 2021 ceasefire.
