Surgical strikes against Pakistan proved effective: Minister

There has been a reduction in ceasefire violations and casualties on the Indian side of the Line of Control after India conducted surgical strikes in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, a minister said on Wednesday.

"The ceasefire violations by Pakistan have come down post the surgical strikes. There were 228 ceasefire violations at the LOC in 2016 and 221 at the International Border," Minister of State (MoS) for Home Affairs Hansraj Gangaram Ahir informed the Rajya Sabha.

However till February 2017, there have only been 22 ceasefire violations till now and 6 on the IB," Ahir said while replying to supplementary questions during the Question Hour in the Upper House.

"The civilian casualties and injuries in 2017 has been zero at the IB and LoC, whereas in 2016 there were 13 civilian casualties and 83 injured on the LoC and 8 casualties on the IB and 74 were injured," he said.

"Five BSF jawans lost their lives and 25 were injured along the international border. We claim that the incidents of ceasefire violations have reduced post surgical strikes," he added.

Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad, after hearing from Ahir on the issue, expressed his unhappiness saying the the matter was "killed" and "butchered" by the government by not giving a straight answer.

Reacting to this, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said: "I fully contradict the charge made by the Leader of Opposition."

--IANS

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