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It will take some days to get jawan Chandu Babulal Chavan back from Pak custody: Manohar Parrikar

The Defence Minister said there's no correlation between the surgical strike and Babulal crossing over.

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Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said it will take "some days" to bring back Army jawan Chandu Babulal Chavan, who is in Pakistan's custody after inadvertently crossing over, but a well established mechanism through the DGMO has been activated to secure his release. "He had crossed over which happens in border areas. There is a well established mechanism through DGMO (Director General of Military Operations) which has been activated," he told reporters. "Since the situation is tense right now, it will take some days to bring the soldier back," the Minister, who was here to inaugurate a cleanliness drive in a cantonment area, said.

The Defence Minister said there is no relation between the surgical strike carried out by the Army in PoK and the soldier crossing the border inadvertently. On September 30, Chavan from 37 RR had inadvertently crossed over to the other side of the Line of Control following which Pakistan had been informed by the DGMO on the hotline. "Such inadvertent crossing by Army and civilians are not unusual on either side. They are returned through existing mechanisms," the army had said.

On Friday, Home Minister Rajnath Singh had called up the family of the solider and assured them that efforts are being made to secure his release. Chavan's grandmother had passed away after hearing the news of his crossing over to Pakistan. Parrikar also said that people should remain alert and report anything unusual to the police. 

Parrikar to be felicitated in Goa 

 Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar would address a public gathering on October 4 in Goa where he would be felicitated. "Parrikar is expected to address more than 10,000 people at the historic Azad Maidan in Panaji on October 4, where he would be congratulated and felicitated for the achievements over the surgical strike," BJP Goa unit president Vinay Tendulkar told PTI.

Tendulkar claimed this would be the first public speech by the Defence Minister post the surgical strike. "We are proud of his achievements and hence we want to express our sentiments to him," he said.
On Tuesday afternoon, Parrikar will arrive at the Dabolim airport from where he would be taken in a procession to Azad Maidan. To a question, Tendulkar said the surgical strike will be one of the issues that would be highlighted during the Goa Assembly elections due next year.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that sacrifices in Uri attack would not go in vain and he has kept the word.
Only BJP and its government have the capability to take such stern action which is historic. We will be highlighting this achievement during the forthcoming poll campaign in Goa," Tendulkar said.
India had recently carried out surgical strikes on seven terror launch pads across the LoC with the Army saying that its special forces inflicted "significant casualties" on terrorists preparing to infiltrate from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). Defence sources said seven terror launch pads across the Line of Control(LoC) were destroyed by special forces of the Indian Army on the intervening night of September 28 and 29 in a nearly five-hour-long operation during which heliborne and ground forces were deployed. 

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