Army troops retaliating strongly to ceasefire violations: GOC

Asserting that it was ready to deal with any situation on the border, the Army tonight said Indian troops have responded strongly to ceasefire violations by Pakistan and will continue to send a strong message to it.
"We are giving a hard message (to Pakistan) on LoC-- let me assure you on this-- whatever action we take are strong and it is effective (with regard to ceasefire violation)", General Officer Commanding (GOC), 16 Corps, Lt Gen D S Hooda, told reporters here.
He was replying to question whether India wants to give a strong message to Pakistan over LoC firing and ceasefire violations.

"There are no orders required to the troops on the ground -- we are responding very strongly (with regard to Pak firing and ceasefire violations on LoC in Poonch)," he said.
"They (Pakistan) are trying that LoC remains active-- we have got evidence to see that during ceasefire violations -- they are trying to push in infiltrators", GOC said.
"Their attempt is to keep LoC active by carrying various actions in order to disturb counter infiltration grid-- I want to tell you we are responding strongly -- people on the borders know exactly what to do", Lt Gen Hooda said, adding "so troops are absolutely ready."

He said that cross border militants have failed to infiltrate along LoC in the region for past couple of years and that is why the militancy in Jammu region has fallen down.
The GOC also blamed Pakistan for targeting civilian areas in the range of 3 kilometre on Indian side to cause panic. "Our response is effective-- we want to keep it strong so that they do not target civilian areas," he added.