New Delhi: The Indian Army had planned a major commando operation in January 2002 to
seal off and hit major terrorist launching pads in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) as
part of Operation Parakarma, Army sources said.
"We had chosen a big objective and a major operation was planned", the Army
Chief-designate Lt Gen N C Vij said in his address at the Pratroopers Golden Jubilee
celebrations which concluded in Bangalore on December 23, without
elaborating.
Merely saying that the "objective" was across the Line of Control (LoC), he said men
from the Special Forces, specialised units of Army and Air Force were to be involved
in the attack, which was called off at the last moment.
Emphasising that special operations jointly to be undertaken by Army and IAF would
assume significance in the context of continued tensions with Pakistan, Vij said with
this in mind extensive training in such operations were being undertaken by the armed
forces.
Though the Army Chief-designate did not reveal the target to be hit in PoK, highly
placed Army sources said the plan was to push in a brigade of Army commandos to
capture terrorist ingress routes like the Haji Pir Pass, areas opposite Keran and
Titwal sectors and areas in PoK across Dras and Kargil sectors.
PTI
