General Qamar Javed Bajwa, an expert in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir affairs, on Tuesday took over as Pakistan's new army chief succeeding General Raheel Sharif and promised to improve the tense situation at the Line of Control soon.
Troops will have to be alert over the next two months as snow melts
The first phase of the infrastructure renovation and creation of some new ones has been recently completed on a stretch of 26 kilometres along the front in Jammu while another 33 kilometres in the same region is being carried out, official sources told PTI.
Army troops have foiled an infiltration bid by a group of militants along the Line of Control in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir.
This is the ninth consecutive day that Pakistan violated the ceasefire. There have been 41 violations of the ceasefire accord this year so far. There has been over 230 ceasefire violations along the Indo-Pakistan border this year.
Targeting forward posts and civilian areas along the Indo-Pak border, Pakistan has violated the ceasefire 96 times this year, the highest in the last eight years.
The group on CBMs favoured opening of new cross-LoC routes to increase frequency of bus services which, at present, is confined to Srinagar-Muzaffarabad and Poonch-Rawalkot.
Top military commanders of India and Pakistan on Wednesday agreed not to allow escalation of tensions along the Line of Control, with the Pakistan Army asking its troops to observe the ceasefire strictly and exercise restraint.
Cross-LoC trade between two sides of Kashmir could not resume on Thursday as no Pakistani truck arrived at the crossing point from Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir.
2017 has also seen a sharp increase in ceasefire violations at the LoC by Pakistan.
The Pakistan Army has indulged in this heinous crime to aggravate tensions with India and use it as a pretext to postpone the forthcoming general election, says Alok Bansal
Both the sides mutually agreed to the importance of exercising restraint on the LoC and keeping the communication alive through established reconciliation mechanism.
The army foiled a major infiltration bid on Saturday along the Line of Control in Kashmir, killing five terrorists.
Indian and Pakistani troops on Saturday night traded heavy gunfire along the Line of Control in Poonch sector after the movement of a group of suspected infiltrators was detected. "There was a movement of six to seven people close to LoC opposite Krisha Ghati sub-sector in Poonch at around 9.45 pm," said Defence Spokesman Colonel R K Palta.
The United States on Monday asked India and Pakistan to take steps to end the exchange of fire and resume normal trade and travel across the Line of Control.
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Beating of war drums, would further accord primacy to the army in Pakistan. A better approach would be to continue the talks for normalisation of trade relations, while giving the Indian forces autonomy to strike at militant camps across the LoC, says Alok Bansal
Five terrorists were killed in an encounter in the north Kashmir area of Bandipore district early on Wednesday, when the army foiled a major infiltration bid into the Indian side of the Line of Control.
Officials said the CBI has not felt the need to issue LOCs against public servants so far because they cannot leave the country without intimating the government.
Sources said the visit was likely to take place in the second week of December as the Mirwaiz was scheduled to attend two Organisation of Islamic Conference meets.
Pakistan also on Friday said it is "disappointed" that progress has not been made on ending ceasefire violations on the Line of Control, a day after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressed disappointment with his counterpart Nawaz Sharif over the continuing transgressions.
Army Chief Gen Bikram Singh was on Monday suddenly called in by Defence Minister A K Antony to brief him about the ceasefire violations by Pakistan on the Line of Control, days after the prime minister voiced concern over the handling of Keran operations.
The Pakistan army on Thursday dismissed as "baseless" that its troops were involved in massive infiltration attempts from across the Line of Control into Jammu and Kashmir.
On the Indian side two civilians -- Nageen Akhtar and Riyaz Ahmed -- were critically injured in the skirmish between Indian and Pakistani troops.
Arrangements for initiating trade across Line of Control and its infrastructural logistics are being given final touches ahead of a formal announcement expected following the meeting between the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session.
A Delhi court on Friday adjourns to November 15 its order on actor Jacqueline Fernandez's bail application in a Rs 200 crore money laundering case involving alleged conman Sukesh Chandrashekar.
The agency told the court that it has issued a Lookout Circular (LOC) on airports to stop the actor from leaving the country.
Four militants were killed on Monday in a fierce gunbattle that erupted on Sunday on the Line of Control in Poonch, with security personnel foiling an attempt by ultras to infiltrate into Jammu and Kashmir.
The Srinagar-Muzaffarbad bus service on Monday resumed after remaining suspended for two weeks following a deadlock over the arrest of a driver from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir on drug trafficking charges.
Scores of workers of Bharatiya Janta Yuva Morcha, the youth wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party, held a protest outside Defence Minister A K Antony's residence in New Delhi demanding a strong response by the government against the killing of five Indian soldiers on the Line of Control.
Four Pakistani soldiers were killed and three others wounded on Thursday when an army patrol was attacked by unidentified assailants in a thickly forested area along the Line of Control in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The army patrol, on a routine scouting of the LoC along the Buttle sector of Jajira area, detected some "unknown assailants", on the Pakistani side and they opened fire at the soldiers, military spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas said.
He will take a look at the fencing work underway in the Rajouri-Poonch sector and also interact with officers and jawans during his day-long stay.
A militant was gunned down while a soldier got injured in fierce gun battles that broke out between militants and security forces in Uri sector near LoC and in Baramulla district of north Kashmir on Wednesday.
The Pakistani soldier lost his way on Thursday afternoon and inadvertently crossed the LoC in Khoi Ratta sector, military officials said on Thursday.
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The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Zaka Ashraf has claimed that a tour by the Indian team to Pakistan had almost been finalised before the recent situation across the Line of Control (LoC) ''spoiled everything''.
He said his biggest takeaway from the Kargil war is that the enemy cannot be trusted even if there is "political show" of friendship.
Two terrorists were killed in an encounter as security forces foiled an infiltration bid in Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara district on Wednesday, officials said.
