Rajnath to skip Russia visit amid LoC tensions

Defence minister Rajnath Singh will not attend Russia’s Victory Day parade to be held in Moscow on May 9 to mark the 80th anniversary of the win over Germany in World War II, amid mounting tensions between India and Pakistan in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack, officials aware of the matter said on Saturday.

Singh’s deputy, the minister of state for defence Sanjay Seth, may represent India, the officials said, asking not to be named.

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The development came on a day the Pakistan Army fired at Indian posts along the Line of Control (LoC) in sectors including Kupwara, Uri and Akhnoor, violating the crumbling ceasefire agreement for the ninth straight day after the April 22 terror strike that killed 26 people.

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The Indian Army’s counter-fire was measured but effective.

While Prime Minister Narendra Modi had received an invitation from the Russian government to attend the Victory Day celebrations, New Delhi decided that Singh would represent India. Russia has invited the leaders of several friendly nations to attend the parade.

Former prime minister Manmohan Singh attended the Victory Day parade in 2005, which marked the 60th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945.

The latest round of overnight ceasefire violations in Kupwara, Uri and Akhnoor is being seen as a deliberate attempt by Pakistan to step up hostilities along the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir.

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On Saturday, the Pakistani military also conducted a launch of the Abdali surface-to-surface ballistic missile with a range of 450 km. It is a land-based tactical ballistic missile that is already in service with Pakistan’s strategic forces.

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.

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, the Pakistan Army opened machine-gun fire on several forward areas including Kupwara, Baramulla, Poonch, Naushera and Akhnoor.

The neighbouring army, which has repeatedly targeted Indian posts after the Pahalgam terror attack, on April 30 opened fire across the international border (IB) for the first time since the strike 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.

The repeated targeting of Indian posts has sparked the most extensive cross-border exchange since the 2021 ceasefire.