NEW DELHI: The Indian armed forces are maintaining a high-state of operational readiness amid heightened tensions with Pakistan, even as Army chief General Upendra Dwivedi will visit J&K on Friday and the rival navies conducted firing drills in their own waters in the Arabian Sea.
General Dwivedi will review the operational situation along the 778-km Line of Control and the counter-terror operations in the hinterland during his visit to the Udhampur-based Northern Command, as well as, Srinagar, and Anantnag, a senior officer told TOI.
The validity of the LoC itself came under sharp focus on Thursday after Pakistan announced suspension of the 1972 Simla Agreement, which had transformed the then ceasefire line into the LoC with both sides agreeing not to alter it unilaterally.
The ceasefire had first come into effect in Nov 2003 with an understanding between the rival director generals of military operations but was subsequently blown to smithereens by intense firing duels between the two armies. After a couple of unsuccessful attempts, the understanding between the DGsMO was renewed in Feb 2021 – after an especially bloody year with as many as 5,133 ceasefire violations – and has largely held till now.
As the situation along the land boundaries with Pakistan remains tense, the maritime domain is also witnessing some shadow boxing. Pakistan first issued a ‘NavArea’ warning for ships to stay away from specified coordinates in its EEZ in the Arabian Sea due to a live fire exercise by its warships and submarines on April 24-25.
Then, the Navy Thursday said its latest guided-missile destroyer INS Surat had successfully conducted test-firing of its medium-range surface-to-air missile which has an interception range of 70 km, against a sea-skimming target on the western seaboard.
Indian Air Force is also honing its combat skills with the annual ‘Aakraman’ (attack) exercise, with different fighter jets led by omni-role Rafales as well as other aircraft, over central India. The number of ORPs (operational readiness platforms) at IAF air bases has also been increased.
