Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Its ongoing battle against the Kabul-ruling Taliban and their Pakistan branch, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), has already claimed dozens of lives on both sides of the borders. Now, amid reports that 15,000 Taliban fighters are marching towards Pakistan, Islamabad has accused India of “violating” the Line of Control (LoC) at least 25 times in 2024, the media reported.
Viewed as a ruse to divert attention from its foster children, the Taliban, preparing to attack Islamabad, and its military’s inability to stop its soldiers from being killed by their dozens, Pakistan is trying to whip up an anti-India frenzy. The Pakistan Army is battling insurgency mostly in Baluchistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, bordering Afghanistan.
On Friday, the Pakistan Army accused India of 25 violations of the Line of Control (LoC) in 2024 and threatened a “quick response if Indian forces attack,” the media reported on Saturday.
Army spokesman Lt. Gen. Ahmad Sharif Chaudhry made these claims at a year-end press conference but gave no details to substantiate them.
He said Pakistan’s security forces killed at least 925 terrorists in 2024 and lost 383 of its men in nearly 60,000 operations.
Then he claimed that India committed 25 LoC violations and carried out several false flag operations,’ or fake military actions so that the blame falls on the other side.
Choudhry claimed that such operations were always announced through fake social media accounts linked with RAW (Research and Analysis Wing), India’s external intelligence agency.
“The Pakistan Army possesses the capability to deliver a decisive response to any Indian hostility,” he said.
“Indian forces are using brutal tactics to suppress independence movements,” he alleged in an apparent reference mainly to Jammu and Kashmir.
For decades, India has repeatedly accused Pakistan of fomenting terrorism in the Punjab, J&K, and other Indian states.
Choudhry even accused India of targeting minorities, including Sikhs, both within its borders and abroad.
About Pakistan, he said that the number of terrorists killed by the country’s security forces in 2024 was the highest in the last five years. About 170 operations are being conducted to foil terrorist attempts. A huge cache of arms and weapons were also recovered in these operations, he said.
Chaudhry said 73 “high-value targets” were also killed, including 27 Afghan nationals, while another 14 high-value terrorists surrendered to the authorities.
The spokesman accused the Afghan Taliban regime of patronizing militants, especially those belonging to the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
He urged Kabul to tackle the issue by denying the rebels the use of their soil.
TTP terrorists are using Afghan soil and the perpetrators of acts of terror in Pakistan go to the hideouts of terrorists in Afghanistan, he said.
Chaudhry said that a one-document regime has been implemented for those crossing from Afghanistan, and illegal border crossings have decreased.
Action against illegal Afghans has been going on and so far 815,000 of them have been expelled since September 2023.
Chaudhry also said talks were being held with Afghanistan bilaterally as well as through international friends.