India trying to secure release of captured soldier

India said on Friday it was trying to secure the release of an Indian soldier taken into custody in Pakistan after he inadvertently crossed the border.

 

New Delhi will take up the matter with Islamabad formally and seek the soldier's early release, Home Minister Rajnath Singh told reporters here.

 

Official sources said the Director General of Military Operations (DGMO), Lt. Gen. Ranbir Singh, had taken taken up the matter with his Pakistani counterpart.

 

A soldier from 37 Rashtriya Rifles inadvertently crossed the Line of Control (LoC), which divides Jammu and Kashmir between India and Pakistan, and was captured.

 

Officials say the crossing over was not related to the surgical strikes the Indian Army carried out across the LoC on Wednesday night.

 

"Such inadvertent crossing by army men and civilians on either side is not unusual. They are returned through the existing mechanisms," a defence ministry release said on Thursday night. - IANS