Khurshid backs Army's claim of Pakistani involvement in Keran Sector infiltration

External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid on Wednesday backed Army Chief General Bikram Singh's statement claiming Pakistani troops' involvement in the Keran Sector infiltration, and urged the country to trust their Army and not intervene into their independence in any away.

"We get our feedback from our Army. We have to accept what our Army informs us because they are essentially the agency that is to provide protection to our sovereignty and the safety of our citizens," Khurshid said.

"I want to assure the citizens of our country that our Army is alert, our Army is effective, our Army is prepared for any challenges. We should not do anything to interfere in their ability, in their independence to do their duty, to fulfill their obligations. They know what they have to do," he added.

Khurshid also assured that the UPA-led Central Government is committed to assist the Army through dialogue and action, if the latter deem it necessary at any point.

"Such information as they (Army) give us and such expectation that they have from us as a civilian government, we will continue to fulfill. This is a matter that pertains to the Ministry of Defence. As and when they want to give us any feedback, and want us to take it up further, we will do so," he said.

Earlier today, reiterating that infiltrations along the Line of Control (LoC) have the support of the Pakistan Army, Chief of Army Staff General Bikram Singh said these crossovers will continue and predicted that the push of people from across the border would become increasingly desperate.

" It will go up. This is a time they are going to be desperate and they will try and push in more people," he said in an exclusive interview to ANI, when asked whether infiltrations such as the latest one in the Keran Sector, will go down in future.

"You cannot infiltrate from that area where I mentioned yesterday that you have the eyeball to eyeball deployment from both sides. And with that kind of deployment, it is not possible for terrorists to infiltrate without the knowledge and support of Pakistani army," he added.

The Army Chief had on Tuesday rejected the perception that the Keran incident was on the pattern of the 1999 Kargil intrusion, and said it was just an infiltration bid by terrorists but suggested the complicity of Pakistan Army in the episode.

General Singh insisted that terrorists were not occupying any higher ground but sitting in a 'nallah' (rivulet) near the LoC in Kashmir Valley.

"It was a desperate infiltration bid, which has been foiled," he told media on the sidelines of the Air Force Day parade at Hindon.