NEW DELHI, Aug 25: The Government tonight sought to play down the exchange of heavy firing on the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir, even as a senior army officer confirmed that Pakistan had suffered at least 70 casualties in retaliatory firing by Indian troops in Uri sector.

Chief of Army Staff Shankar Roychowdhury, in his briefing to the Cabinet Committee on Security Affairs late this afternoon, reportedly said that the latest firing incidents along the LoC were of a serious nature, but there was not enough cause for anxiety. The Prime Minister, Defence and Home Ministers were present along with the Cabinet, Defence and Principal secretaries.

``These things are happening on the border and they are happening every year,'' said an official spokesman in response to a query about the Pakistani firing issue figuring at the Union Cabinet meeting. Defence Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, had earlier denied to a press meet in Lucknow, that villages along the border were being evacuated in view of the brewing tension and that there was a war-like situation. But for the record, Mulayam added that India would give a ``befitting reply if its unity and integrity was threatened.''

Despite the Army and Government's attempts to maintain diplomatic equilibrium, security, nevertheless, has been beefed up along the entire LoC in Jammu and Kashmir. The situation was being monitored carefully as it was apprehended that Pakistan might try to do some mischief again and sneak some Kashmiri militants into the state by providing them cover fire.

And even as the Defence Minister gave out his statements, intermittent firing continued between Indian and Pakistani troops in Keran and Uri sectors of the Kashmir valley.

Brigadier Jasbir Lidder, commander of Uri brigade, confirmed to reporters in Srinagar that near the Line of Control in Uri sector at least 70 Pakistani armymen, including some officers, were killed or wounded and dozens of bunkers and heavy weapons destroyed in retaliatory firing by Indian troops.

One major and one non-commissioned officer (NCO) on the Indian side were killed while on patrol duty as a result of a direct hit by a 120 mm shell.Yesterday's was the second major incident involving exchange of fire during the current year in which heavy to medium machine guns were used. In April this year Pakistani troops had resorted to firing in Kargil sector of Ladakh region which had sparked off large scale migration from several towns after Pakistani shells hit civilian areas.

In fact, there has not been a single day along the LoC when India and Pakistan have not rained ordnance on each other's posts. Firing is a matter of routine there, probably the only chapter of life on the LoC which has any regularity. The firing is controlled only by the solemnity of the occasions, with Indian days of celebrations attracting heavy fire from the Pakistani posts, and as is customary from their side they open up their weapons whenever there is something to commemorate.

It was the same in this latest round with the Pakistan Army raising the ante way back on August 14. There was an earlier increase over the routine, on August 4, but soon returned to the normal levels. And normal in this part of the world is anything upto medium machine guns on the Indian, and upto heavy machine guns on the Pakistani side.

When it is time for the abnormal, then the battalion support weapons like 82 mm and 120 mm mortars to come out. The extraordinary is of course artillery systems, which happen but rarely, like the firing on Kargil in April last.Following no ridge lines or watershed boundaries, the LoC is a tactical, logistical and operational nightmare. Formed purely by the mutual recognition of actual ground position lines when the late Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru called a halt to the Army's expulsion of the Pakistan Army and its raiders. Commencing from the Akhnur sector the LoC winds its way using no logic of terrain or direction until it ends in the world's highest battlefield, the Siachen Glacier.

Since 1949 there have been only minor changes to the contours of the LoC, with India ceding some land in the Akhnur side and retaining some in the Kargil sector. After the Tashkent talks of 1966 India did give up the Haji Pir Pass having reclaimed it at the cost of the lives of a lot of its soldiers.

A tenure on the LoC for an infantry battalion is as arduous as it is risky. With the eruption of an insurgency in the Kashmir valley posts along the LoC have been moved to the forward locations, and at places are not more than 100 metres from the Pakistani ones. And considerable changes in life on the LoC. The increase in firing has led to a number of new constructions, both in terms of fortification of bunkers as well as communication and supply channels.

A network of tunnels has now come up to ensure the availability of food, fuel and ammunition to the posts. Troops now have to innovate both in terms of timing as well as method to obtain their supplies. A bucket of water can cost a life, for a Pakistani sniper is always on sentry duty.

The Kashmir insurgency has placed additional demands with a constant watch having to be maintained on movement of militants. An increase in local recruitment as has happened in the valley, even of the 14-15 year age group, is the likely cause of the latest escalation. The Pakistani Army had to get them across the LoC, which they could only by pinning down Indian posts, hence the heavier firing.

Pak firing a diversionary tactic, says Cong

Strongly condemning the Pakistan firing on the Indo-Pak Kashmir border, the Congress today said the Centre must take it up with Pakistan at the highest level.

``We condemn Pakistan for its unprovoked act of firing at the Indo-Pak border in Kashmir in which several soldiers are reported to have died and many others injured.

``We strongly condemn this act which reflects the helplessness of the Pakistani authorities in handling the situation in their country. Pakistan is on the brink of an economic disaster and its law and order situation is out of control. The firing is a diversionary tactic to take the attention of the people of Pakistan away from their problems,'' party assistant spokesperson Ajit Jogi said today.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.