Pakistan army chief rejects Indian claims on surgical strikes

Pakistan Army Chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Thursday rejected what he called "self-defeating claims" by his Indian counterpart about "so called surgical strikes" and its possible recurrence.

General Bajwa's statement came after Indian army chief General Bipin Rawat threatened in reported comments this week that India "will not shy away from a second surgical strike" on Pakistani soil.

"COAS (Chief of Army Staff) Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa rejects self-defeating claims by Indian COAS about 'so called surgical strikes' and its possible recurrence," the army spokesman Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor said on his official Twitter.

"Pakistan's Armed Forces are fully geared to respond to any aggression by India," Gen Bajwa said.

India had claimed in late September to have conducted surgical strikes in Pakistan-administered Kashmir days after suspected militants attacked a military center in the Indian-controlled Kashmir and killed 19 soldiers. Pakistan had dismissed Indian claim as false.

Dozens of people, mostly civilians on both sides have been killed, along the Line of Control and Working Boundary since attack on the Indian military center. India had blamed the Pakistan-based "Jaish-e-Mohammad" group for the attack.

Both nuclear rivals accuse each other of violating the 2003 ceasefire.

An army report about the 2016 claimed in December that Indian forces have committed 379 ceasefire violations, killing 46 civilians and Pakistani forces in retaliation have killed 40 Indian soldiers. Endit