3 civilians, Army jawan killed in Pak firing along IB and LoC in J&K
Nearly 150 cattle also perish; dozens of residential houses damaged.
Srinagar: Four more people including an Army jawan were killed and half a dozen others wounded in fresh firing by Pakistani troops along the International Border (IB) and the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday.
With these killings the toll in escalating artillery fire from across the borders since Wednesday night has risen to eleven including seven civilians and two soldiers each from the Border Security Force (BSF) and the Army. Over thirty people, mostly civilians, have been injured whereas nearly 150 cattle have also perished.
Pakistan has reported the death of five civilians and injuries to about a dozen people on their side of the IB (called ‘working boundary’ by Islamabad) and the LoC in the tit-for-tat fire. The authorities in Muzaffarabad said that two civilians were killed and five others wounded in the Indian firing in Nakyal sector of PoK’s Kotli district on Saturday.
Though artillery fire has frequently rattled the 198-km stretch of the IB with Pakistan and 745-km LoC in the past also despite a ceasefire understanding reached between the two sides in November 2003, the clashes intensified earlier this week.
The officials in Jammu said that the latest ceasefire violations started on Wednesday night when the Pakistan Rangers “without any provocation” targeted the BSF outposts and civilian areas in Ranbir Singh Pura (RS Pura) and Arnia sectors of the IB, killing a BSF jawan and a 13-year-old girl. On the other hand, the Pakistani authorities had alleged that the firing on villages in Chaprar sector of Sialkot district was initiated by the BSF resulting into the death of two women and injuries to five civilians.
Thursday and Friday witnessed more clashes along the IB in which one BSF jawan and two civilians were killed and 26 people, mostly civilians, injured. The BSF said that the Pakistan Rangers targeted over forty of its outposts and about fifty villages all along the IB in Kathua, Samba and Jammu districts on Friday. Late that afternoon, active hostilities broke out also in LoC’s Nowshehra sector in Rajouri district. Lance Naik Sam Abraham was killed in the Pakistani firing in this sector.
On Saturday, three civilian and an Army jawan were killed and six injured in fresh firing by the Pakistani troops along the IB and the LoC, the officials said. They said that the Army jawan was killed in “unprovoked” fire from across the LoC in Krishna Ghati sector of Poonch district. The slain soldier has been identified as Sepoy Mandeep Singh (23), a resident of Alampur village of Sangroor in Punjab.
The Army said that the Pakistani troops initiated unprovoked and indiscriminate firing of small arms and automatics form 8.20 am in Krishna Ghati sector, resulting in grievous injuries to Singh who later succumbed. The Army retaliated “strongly and effectively”, a defence spokesman said in Jammu.
The officials said that the IB also witnessed fresh ceasefire violation on Saturday. “Two civilians were killed in the Pakistan Rangers’ fire in RS Pura sector of the IB”, said Jammu’s Additional Deputy Commissioner, Arun Manhas. The victims were identified as Gaura Ram (17) of Kapur village and Gour Singh (45) of Abdullian village.
One more person whose identity could not be ascertained immediately is reported to have been killed elsewhere. Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti in a tweet confirmed the death of three more civilians in firing. She said, “Distraught to hear of three more civilians caught in the crossfire on the border. The people of J&K are the worst victims of the acrimony between the two neighbouring countries. I pray that the hostility on the borders ends soon”.
Four people including a BSF jawan were injured, the officials said adding that the BSF jawan was hit in the Pakistani firing in IB’s Pargwal sector. Two more people were injured in Kanachak sector of Akhnoor along the LoC. Among them was a Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) jawan Lallu Ram.
Officials said that Ram, a constable with the SSB’s 14th battalion, was deployed for rendering law and order duties along with the J&K Police at the Kanachak police station, when he was hit by splinters of a mortar shell that landed in the area.
The BSF said that the Pakistan Rangers targeted villages along the IB from Chenab River (Akhnoor) to RS Pura throughout the night and early Saturday using small and medium weapons and 52MM and 182MM mortars. It added, “Our jawans are giving them a befitting reply”.
A report from Jammu said that intermittent firing and shelling was underway in IB’s RS Pura, Arnia, Ramgarh, Pargwal and Hiranagar sector falling in Kathua, Samba and Jammu districts.
The escalation has forced thousands of people to flee their homes falling in close proximity of the IB and the LoC and relocated to safer locations. Most of them are living with their relatives or in school and other government buildings. The authorities have set up camps for the border migrants in school and other official buildings including in and outside RS Pura, Kathua and Samba townships. Earlier educational institutions within five kilometre radius of the borders were ordered closed till Monday “as a precautionary measure”.
courtesy - https://www.deccanchronicle.com/