Pakistan captures soldier at LoC, India to talk about release

India today said it will raise to Pakistan the issue of the release of an Indian soldier who was captured yesterday after having strayed into Pakistani territory ‘inadvertently’.  

All attempts are being made to free 22-year-old soldier Chandu Babulal Chauhan from Pakistani captivity, our New Delhi correspondent reports quoting Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

News that Chauhan is in Pakistani captivity came hours after India announced that its troops had attacked seven terror launch pads in surgical strikes conducted after midnight Wednesday in Pakistan occupied Kashmir.

Pakistan's Ambassador to the United Nations Dr Maleeha Lodhi, while talking to Al Jazeera, confirmed that the Pakistan army has "captured an Indian soldier who was trying to enter” into Pakistani territory, reports Dawn.

Eight Indian soldiers had been killed in the strikes and one was caught alive, according to the Dawn report.

However, the Indian army denied the casualties, asserting that the special forces who crossed the Line of Control for the strikes returned with "not one scratch".

Chauhan, a soldier of the Rashtriya Rifles did not take part in the surgical strikes, the Indian army said, adding in a statement that he had "inadvertently crossed the Line of Control from the army post where he was on duty."

"Such inadvertent crossing by the army and civilians are not unusual on either side. They are returned through existing mechanisms," the statement read.

Lt Gen Ranbir Singh, head of the Indian army’s military operations, spoke to his Pakistani counterpart last night and demanded that the soldier be sent back, sources say.