Armies of India, Pakistan to train together at SCO war games

Army Representational image | Indian Army's ADGPI's Facebook account

India and Pakistan have fought many wars since 1947, and still continue to stare down to each other on the border. But now, for the first time, they will be training along with each other in September.

The armies of both the nations will meet in the Ural mountains of Russia to participate in the military war games as members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). The SCO is China-dominated security grouping, generally seen as a team formed to counterbalance the NATO. It was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. India and Pakistan were admitted as observers of the grouping in 2005. Both the countries were admitted as full members of the bloc last year.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has announced Indian Army's participation in the military drills during her visit to Beijing last week. Later, Pakistan too announced participation of its army in the event titled 'Peace Mission 2018'. Chinese Army will also participate in the event.

The Army headquarters is yet to select the regiment of its infantry unit, which will be taking part in the war games. Nearly 200 soldiers each from India and Pakistan will be on the same field and not pointing their guns at each other. Instead, both will be sharing their experiences in the counter-terrorism measures.

"Though modalities of the multi-lateral military exercise are yet to be finalised, it will be a company level multilateral exercise. It means, nearly 200 troops from Indian army from its infantry will be sent to participate in the joint military exercise. Both sides will share each others' experiences of handling counter-terrorism operations," said an official source.

Militaries of India and Pakistan work together in UN Peace Keeping missions in Africa as well.

Last year, Indian Army has killed 138 Pakistani Army personnel in tactical operations and retaliatory cross-border firings along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir, while Indian Army has lost 28 of its personnel in the same period in Pakistan Army's violation of peace agreement. This year, so far, Pakistan Army has violated ceasefire agreement for over 800 times along the LoC.

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