All quiet on the Northern front

After the heat and fire of the last three days, peace reigned supreme all along the Line of Control in Kashmir on Wednesday.

A rain-drenched peace, this, which, however, is nothing short of war for a civilian -- for, small arm fire continued intermittently all throughout.

But for the Indian army, Wednesday was 'quiet' and 'normal'.

"Small arm fire tho chalta hai rahta hai," said Brigadier Ashok Kapoor of Headquarters, 15 Corps, "That's normal; we get it all the year round. Otherwise, everything has been absolutely quiet in the Uri and Kupwara sectors (which had taken the heaviest attacks last weekend)."

Tuesday morning, at around 10 am, was the last when Pakistani forces used 'big' guns. Their artillery fire trained at a forward post in Uri sector had almost cost the Indian army the Uri commander Brigadier Jasbir Singh Lidder who, along with Colonel Katoch, was escorting a group of journalists. The group had sheltered in a bunker, and Lidder had directed return fire. It took 20 115 mm artillery shells, spread over half an hour, to silence the Pak guns.

"The weather gods have intervened," is how a defence spokesman explained the situation, "Everything is under control now. It has been raining incessantly for over 48 hours. The bad weather has helped diffuse the situation."

Since Monday, Kupwara had been silent, bar odd rifle attempts to disrupt the peace. Uri too had followed suit on Tuesday. Throughout Wednesday, however, Uri, Kupwara, Poonch and Rajouri sectors witnessed 'sporadic small exchanges,' while the troops continued on maximum alert.

Army personnel, for their part, believe the worst is over -- at least for now. "It was one of those border skirmishes. Fortunately, it seems to be over," said Brigadier Kapoor, "But we are ready to face any eventuality."

Two infiltration attempts -- one each in Kupwara and Uri -- were foiled early on Tuesday morning. Both the incidents occurred at around 5.30 am. The forces gunned down a militant near Baramullah, while two others were killed near Uri.

Meanwhile, the Pakistan government which has all along been crying hoarse about India's 'unprovoked' firing -- just as India has been about theirs -- lodged a complaint with the United Nations Military Observers Group, asking it to take 'serious note' of the situation.

Interestingly, the Nawaz Sharief government's claim about Pak causalities remain vastly different from the Indian figures. While the army claims nearly 70 casualties on the enemy side, Pak says zero -- instead, they claim to have killed at least 75 Indian soldiers.

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