Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has asked the armed forces to ensure their operational preparedness, while battling COVID-19. Rajnath Singh while reviewing the operational and COVID-19 preparedness of the armed forces said, “the adversary should not be allowed to exploit the current situation”.
The minister also asked military commanders to identify and prioritise tasks that could be accomplished quickly and assist in the revival of the national economy once the lockdown is lifted.
There have been a surge in cross-border firings recently. Over the past 20 days, Kashmir has witnessed 12 fierce encounters between the Indian Army and suspected terrorists in which 16 individuals were killed. About 11 security personnel have also lost their lives in these incidents. According to official sources, since the beginning of the year 50 terrorists have been killed in counter-terrorism operations by Indian security forces in Jammu and Kashmir.
During a recent visit to forward areas in Kashmir, chief of Indian Army, General Manoj Mukund Naravane had charged Pakistan with exporting terrorism during the coronavirus pandemic.
Relations between the two neighbours have been tense ever since India abrogated Article 370 of its Constitution stripping the state of Jammu and Kashmir's special status in August 2019. Islamabad subsequently mounted a diplomatic offensive and suspended trade and communication links with New Delhi.
Pakistan claims to be a stakeholder in Indian-administered Kashmir and did not accept the change in status of the region by India. The two countries have fought three wars since they gained freedom from British colonial rule in 1947, two of them on Kashmir, while the third was for the liberation of Bangladesh in 1971.
Currently, both India and Pakistan are fighting the global pandemic. While the number of COVID-19 cases as on Friday was over 23,000 in India, the same in Pakistan was 11,155. In India 718 people have lost their lives to the infection, while 237 people have died in Pakistan.
