Fate of captured Indian army soldier mired in war of words

India was working to secure the release of a soldier held in Pakistan but it will take “some days,” the defense minister said Sunday, following a dramatic spike in tensions between the archrivals.

India says the soldier was captured Thursday after he “inadvertently” crossed over into the Pakistani side of the defacto border that divides Kashmir between the two nuclear-armed neighbors.
Manohar Parrikar said the capture did not relate to the Indian military’s strikes on militants that sources said on Thursday occurred several kilometers inside Pakistan-controlled Kashmir.
“He had crossed over, which happens in border areas. There is a well established mechanism through DGMO (Director General of Military Operations) which has been activated,” the minister said, according to the Press Trust of India news agency.
“Since the situation is tense right now, it will take some days to bring the soldier back.”
India has evacuated thousands of people near the Pakistani border in Punjab state following the military raids on militant posts, which provoked furious charges of “naked aggression” from Pakistan.
The move followed a deadly assault on one of India’s army bases in Kashmir that New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-based militants, triggering a public outcry and demands for military action.
On Saturday, Parrikar likened Pakistan to a patient under the influence of anaesthesia, amid an increase in derogatory comments between the two sides.
“It is just like anaesthesia. When anaesthesia is given, you don’t realize the surgery is over. It’s been two days and Pakistan has still no idea what has happened,” he said.
On Saturday, Pakistani military officials pointed to an Indian army post high on a forested ridge along the Line of Control dividing Kashmir, insisting any incursions are impossible, after skirmishes ignited dangerous tensions between the nuclear rivals.
The army took the rare step of flying international media to the de facto border to make its case in a battle of competing narratives, after India said its commandos penetrated up to three kilometers into Pakistan on anti-militant raids.
The presence of Indian forces so far across the Line of Control (LoC) would be a stinging blow to Pakistan, particularly after the 2011 US raid that killed Osama Bin Laden which took place on its territory without its consent.
The media visit came Saturday as India’s army chief Dalbir Singh congratulated commandos involved in what New Delhi has described as “surgical strikes” to take out terrorist launchpads after a deadly attack on an Indian army base last month.
Pakistan has flatly denied the claim, saying two of its soldiers were killed but only in cross-border fire of the kind that commonly violates a 2003 cease-fire on the LoC.
The helicopter tour took journalists to sectors just two kilometers from the dividing line, and near the locations India said it targeted in assaults on four militant camps.
On hand were senior local commanders as well as army spokesman Lt. Gen. Asim Bajwa — an omnipresent media personality who has taken center stage on Pakistani television since the tensions erupted.
In villages like Mandhole, daily life was going on largely as normal despite the tensions, with shops and businesses open and children in pressed white uniforms walking to school.

Source: Arab News