The Indian Army (IA) on April 10, 2020 carried out its fifth punitive, targetted medium field artillery fire-assault (between last October and to date) against Pakistan Army (PA) field artillery and related administrative firm bases located across the LoC at Dudhnial in the Neelum Valley (34 41 58.21 N, 74 09 25.31 E) of the Keran sector.
This fire-assault was to avenge the deaths of five 4 Para-SF soldiers of the IA who were involved in an extremely close-quarter combat (under OP Rangduri Behak) with five heavily-armed Pakistani terrorists (who also were killed in the process) in the Keran sector on April 7. IA HQ, along with Lt Gen Yogesh Kumar Joshi General Officer-Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C) of HQ Northern Command and Lt Gen B S Raju, GOC of the XV ‘Chinar’ Corps, had taken a very serious note of such losses suffered by the IA and thereafter it was decided to commence in a calibrated escalation of fire-assaults involving the usage of the newly-inducted M-777 ultralightweight 155mm/39-cal field howitzers and M982 Excalibur GPS-guided 155mm projectiles.
PA’s Administrative Base in Dudhnial
PA’s Field Artillery Base in Dudhnial
The IA conducted its first targetted medium field artillery fire-assault with the M-777/M982 Excalibur combination on October 20, 2019 in the Tangdhar sector of Kupwara district along the LoC by pounding areas in Pakistan’s Nauseri sector of Muzaffarabad district and its adjoining Jura sector in the Neelum Valley. While four terrorist launch-pads in the Neelum Valley were hit, launch-pads in Jura, Athamuqam and Kundalshahi were also decimated in the fire-assaults in the wee hours.
PA Gunpits at Sharda Peeth
This was followed by another similar fire-assault on December 4 in which four terrorist launch-pads were destroyed at Athmuqam in the neelum valley. The third fire-assault was carried out on December 26, 2019 in the Uri/Haji Pir sector to retaliate against the PA’s shelling of Baramulla’s Uri and Bandipora’s Gurez sectors in Jammu & Kashmir Union Territory. The fourth fire-assault took place in the Tangdhar and Poonch sectors on February 24 and 25, 2020.
IA’s Panzgam Field Artillery Base in Kupwara
IA’s Field Artillery Base at Keran
IA’s Field Artillery Base North of Tangdhar
The PA, however, is unlikely to cease its infiltration attempts anytime soon, since the bulk of its manpower deployments within PoK comprise irregular combatants. Pakistan’s ground forces deployment in what it calls AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan (together making up PoK) is 150,000 troops, but of this, only 22% belong to the PA and these comprise personnel serving with the Northern Light Infantry (NLI), plus other Regiments hailing from Pakistan's Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan provinces.
The bulk of the combatants include the 60,000-strong Mujahid Force and the 40,000-strong Jaanbaaz Force that are not officially part of the PA’s ORBAT, but they nevertheless come under the command of the PA’s Rawalpindi HQed X Corps. Both the Mujahid Force and the Jaanbaaz Force exist as irregular combatants and owe allegiance to the ‘Azad Kashmir Regiment’, which has 32 Infantry Battalions distributed among 8 Brigades.
The 1 AK Brigade is located in Muzaffarabad, the 2 AK Brigade in Rawalakot, the 3 AK Brigade in Kotli (has an area of responsibility located opposite to the Rajouri, Poonch, Naushera and Sunderbani sectors), the 4 AK Brigade in Bandli, the 5 AK Brigade in Dhani, the 6 AK Brigade in Bagh, the 7 AK Brigade in Bhimber, and the 32 AK Brigade in Kel. The Mujahid Force comprises the 640, 641, 647, 652, 654, 655, 815, 834, 841, and 886 Battalions of the Pakistan Army. The 656 Battalion is the Mujahid Force Training Centre at Bhimber.
The Gilgit-based HQ Force Commander Gilgit-Baltistan (FCGB) has under its command four Infantry Brigades—32 AK in Kel, 62 in Skardu, 80 in Minimarg, and 323 at Dansum. Back in 1999, the NLI had comprised of 14 Battalions (from 1 to 14). Since then, three more Battalions--15, 16 and 17 NLI—were raised. Of these, the 3, 4, 5 and 7 Battalions took part in the intrusions across the Batalik-Chorbat La-Turtuk sectors back in 1999. Elements of the 12 NLI occupied Tiger Hill and the Mushkoh Valley, while the 6 and 11 NLI were spread across the Drass-Tololing-Kaksar sectors. A 1993 study of the PA had showed the recruitment to the NLI from Gilgit to be at 55%, from Baltistan 35% and from other regions 10%. The ethnic composition of the NLI Battalions shows that they consist of 18% Sunnis, 49% Shias, 23% are Ismailees and 10% are Noor Bakshis.
