So far, at least 80 people have been killed on both sides amid the ongoing border conflict.

On Friday, India’s Defense Ministry authorized the Chief of the Army Staff to activate more than a dozen reserve battalions to support the Armed Forces, amid the current escalation of tensions with Pakistan.

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“Call up all officers and enlisted personnel in the Territorial Army to provide essential guard duties or to be incorporated for the purpose of supporting or supplementing the regular Army,” the order stated.

The Ministerial directive allows India’s Armed Forces to incorporate 14 infantry battalions from the “Territorial Army,” which is known as the secondary force of the Indian Army and is composed of volunteers who receive training for emergency situations.

Friday’s order comes as India and Pakistan are experiencing one of the most severe military escalations in decades, with forces on both sides reporting cross-border incursions.

The current bilateral crisis began on April 22, when an attack in Indian-administered Kashmir killed 26 people, mostly Indian tourists, an incident that New Delhi attributes to Islamabad.

India responded to the attack in the early hours of May 7 with a series of airstrikes targeting infrastructure in Pakistan that was reportedly occupied by alleged terrorists. Islamabad reported 31 civilian deaths as a result of these strikes.

Subsequently, India has accused Pakistan of carrying out drone attacks on several border cities, to which the Indian Army has responded with drone strikes on Pakistani towns. So far, at least 80 people have been killed on both sides amid the ongoing border conflict.

teleSUR/ JF

Source: EFE

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