Army, Fernandes contradict each other on Pt 5353’s occupation

The army has that while peak 5353 was forever in Pakistani control, the Indian army had occupied two other dominating features on the Line of Control. Fernandes yesterday had said that Pakistan was not in control of any post on the Indian side of the Line of Control and that every post was under the Indian Army’s control. He said that every inch of land was in Indian control.

“In accordance with the Simla agreement, the Line of Control passes through Point 5353. This point was never under our occupation either before or after Operation Vijay,” an army spokesman reiterated today. On the minister’s statement, a Ministry of Defence (MoD) spokesman said that the peak was under the control of the Pakistani forces but the minister meant that the feature was under Indian control, when he said that every inch of land was in Indian control.

An army spokesman said that point 5070 and 5245, both on the LoC close to 5353, were in Indian control.