Pakistan military website silent on cross-border Indian casualty

Even as the Pakistani media claimed on Thursday evening that eight Indian soldiers were killed and one was captured alive in the cross-border firing, the Pakistan military's media wing has not put up any information on its website on any Indian casualty.

The Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) has put up the photos of two Pakistani soldiers killed in the cross-border strikes, claimed by India to be "surgical strikes" on terrorist launch pads in Pakistani territory.

According to the ISPR site, "Havildar Jumma Khan who embraced shahadat (martyrdom) at LoC hails from Astore. He was married, has one son and two daughters", while the other was "Naik Imtiaz who embraced shahadat at LoC today hails from Faisalabad. He was married, has 3 daughters."

Dawn, quoting security sources, said that the Pakistan military said it had captured an Indian soldier and killed eight others.

Geo News, quoting senior journalist Hamid Mir, said that 14 Indian soldiers were killed in two sectors.

The "captured" Indian soldier was identified as Chandu Babulal Chohan, 22, from Maharashtra. Dawn said he had been shifted to an undisclosed location.

The soldier was caught after the Indian military fired across the Line of Control (LoC), it said.

Dawn said the bodies of the dead Indian soldiers lay unattended at the LoC, which divides Jammu and Kashmir between India and Pakistan.

India said it had carried out "surgical strikes" on terrorist launch pads across the LoC, inflicting massive casualties. Pakistan has denied the surgical strikes ever took place.

Indian Army sources late in the evening termed as "completely false and baseless" reports of deaths of Indian soldiers in the strike.

It said that one soldier had "inadvertently crossed over" and that the Pakistan DGMO had been informed on the hotline. The soldier would be "returned through existing mechanisms", it said.

--IANS

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