Efforts on to free soldier: Rajnath Singh

Indicating that the government has taken very serious note of reports of an Indian soldier in Pakistani custody, Union home minister Rajnath Singh said on Friday that all attempts are being made to secure his release.

On Thursday night, Indian Army sources said that 22-year-old Chandu Babulal Chauhan, a soldier from 37 Rashtriya Rifles with his service weapon, had “inadvertently crossed over to the other side of the Line of Control. Pakistan has been informed by the DGMO on the hotline.” The soldier reportedly crossed over to PoK from the Mendhar sector.

“Such inadvertent crossing by Army and civilians are not unusual on either side. They are returned through existing mechanisms,” they had said.

Sources also said that his crossing over was not related to the well-coordinated and simultaneous surgical strikes undertaken by Indian commandos on “terrorist launching pads” along the LoC on Wednesday night.

Refuting a report that Pakistani military had killed eight Indian soldiers while retaliating to India’s firing in Tatta Pani, sources said that the report is “completely false and baseless.”

“Few Pakistani channels are playing morphed/doctored video clips showing Indian Army casualties. It is clarified that these are fake and example of black propaganda,” Army sources said.

Meanwhile, one more soldier, critically injured in the Uri attack, passed away at the Army’s Research and Referral Hospital here, taking the total toll to 19.

The announcement of the sudden action across the LoC by the Army was made on Thursday morning by the director-general of military operations Lt. Gen. Ranbir Singh, 11 days after the terror strike by Pakistan-based militants on an Indian Army camp in Uri in Kashmir.

India carried out surgical strikes on seven terror launchpads across the LoC, with the Army inflicting “significant casualties” on terrorists preparing to infiltrate into India from PoK.