Video showing Indian army’s ‘revenge’ could be old

A video of Indian Army troops firing missiles across the Line of Control (LoC) and destroying several Pakistani bunkers has surfaced on social media. The strikes are being perceived as retaliation to the attack on two Indian soldiers by Pakistan Army’s elite Border Action Team (BAT) last week.

“We have brought the bunker down,” an Indian soldier can be heard saying in the background.

According to an Indian Army veteran, Lieutenant General HS Panag, it was the Army’s 22 Sikh Regiment who carried out the strikes across a heavily forested border. Lt General Panag claimed that the missiles seen in the video were Konkurs-M, a Russia-built anti-tank weapon.

The video surfaces a week after Pakistani troops allegedly entered Indian territory and killed two Indian troops, Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) Paramjit Singh and Border Security Force’s (BSF) Head Constable Prem Sagar. The enemy troops reportedly mutilated the bodies of both Indian soldiers, creating a nationwide outrage and prompting calls for revenge.

The incident was reported to have happened on May 1. Vice Chief of Army staff Sarath Chand warned the next day that India would avenge the actions at a “place and time of its choosing”. Chand said that the Army wouldn’t discuss its strategy in public.

An Indian retaliation has been seen imminent since then.

Is the video recent?

While Lt Gen (Retired) Panag’s tweet gives the impression that “revenge has begun”, doubts are being raised over whether the video is recent.

The Indian soldiers doing the talking in the video sound strangely relaxed, uncharacteristic of soldiers involved in combat across the LoC. The lack of retaliation from the Pakistani side, and the apparent absence of troops in the targeted bunkers, to the Indian strikes is also puzzling the sceptics. The video appears to have been shot in daylight, which again has added to the doubts.

The video is first believed to have been reported by English news broadcaster Times Now. The channel claimed that the retaliatory strikes took place near the Krishna Ghati Sector in the Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir.

However, another news channel, News X, reportedly claimed that the video was from an older date, quoting unnamed Indian Army sources.

According to India Today’s Shiv Aroor, who again cited sources, the video was shot in April.

An official reaction from the Indian Army, or the Union Ministry of Defence, over the contents of the video is still awaited.