Army cries foul over MoD’s media briefing

While the Army categorically denied that there was any information sharing by Pakistani troops on the incursion bid that took place on Thursday morning, Goswami in Jammu said that Pakistan had shared information on the movements of terrorists with India.

This conflicting stance raised hackles of the Army HQ with General Deepak Kapoor taking serious exception to the incident. It is learnt that Kapoor raised the matter with the Defence Ministry, under which Goswami works, and has sought an explanation from Northern Command on the “goof-up”.

Goswami is learnt to have expalined that the briefing was cleared by a Brigadier-level officer at Jammu-based 16 Corps, who instructed him to pass on the details of the incident to the media. He is believed to have explained that the senior officer specifically said that “the information of movements of militants was shared by Pakistan to India”.

The Army HQ, however, denied that the Brigadier said anything on “sharing of information” between the two sides. A report of the Army on the incident also emphasises the same.

Sources say that reports by both the Army and the MoD are now likely to be reviewed by Defence Minister A K Antony.