Indian Army wrongly projected farmers as terrorists: Pak Army

The Pakistan Army said on Saturday that the Indian Army has wrongly projected two Pakistani farmers, who inadvertently crossed the Line of Control, as members of a proscribed terror group.

General officer Commanding of the Indian Army's 15 Corps Lt General K J S Dhillon said on September 4 that Pakistan was desperate to push in as many terrorists into the Kashmir Valley as possible, especially after August 5 when India revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.

"We have apprehended two Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists alive during one such foiled attempt," General Dhillon told reporters in Srinagar.

In a video shown at the briefing, the two terrorists identified themselves as Mohammad Khalil and Mohammad Nazim who were residents of Rawalpindi in Pakistan.

The duo admitted that they were being trained by the LeT and the Pakistan Army personnel, and named several of their accomplices.

The Pakistan Army said in statement on Saturday that Khalil, 30, and Nazeem, 21, were local farmers of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir who had inadvertently crossed the Line of Control (LoC) near Hajipir while they had "gone for grass cutting".

On August 27, the incident was discussed by the military authorities during weekly hotline contact. The Indian authorities had acknowledged and informed that the routine legal formalities were taking place and they shall get back on that account, the statement said.

Later the Indian media declared both individuals as members of a proscribed organisation, it said.

The Indian authorities were once again informed during weekly the hotline contact on September 3 regarding the "false" news story, despite the prior exchange of information and facts, the Pakistan Army said.

It was assured by the Indian side that due legal process was in place and outcome will be shared with the Pakistani authorities, it said.

"In complete disregard to formal sharing on the incident, a false and fabricated story was presented by the Indian Army during a presser on September 4 portraying the individuals as terrorists," the Pakistan Army said.

The apprehended inadvertent crossers had also been forced to give confessional statement under duress, the statement said.

Both the individuals are inadvertent crossers, local farmers and residents of village Terraban (Hillan) along the LoC and not of Rawalpindi, the Pakistan Army said.

"The attempt is another indian effort to prepare grounds for a false flag operation," the Pakistan Army alleged.