New Delhi:The blunt message was conveyed by BSF to Pakistan Rangers during a Flag Meeting while lodging a strong protest over its “unprovoked” cross-border firing which killed one civilian and injured 14 in Jammu and Kashmir over past few days.
Rakesh Kumar BSF Inspector General (Jammu Frontier) Rakesh Kumar Image courtesy: ANI Twitter handle
In the wake of renewed ceasefire violations, BSF on Tuesday warned Pakistani armed forces against undertaking any “misadventure”, saying India has “zero tolerance” towards infiltration and cross-border firing, particularly that targets the civilian population.
The blunt message was conveyed by BSF to Pakistan Rangers during a Flag Meeting while lodging a strong protest over its “unprovoked” cross-border firing which killed one civilian and injured 14 in Jammu and Kashmir over past few days. The protest was conveyed at the Sector Commander level Flag Meeting between BSF and Pakistan Rangers at BOP Octerio (Pakistan side) in R S Pura sector of Jammu district which lasted for about two hours. The Flag Meeting was convened in the wake of renewed firing by Pakistani Rangers after over a month-long lull.
“We have lodged the protest and all those protests are given to them on which they have violated the understanding which was established during the DG-level talks (in Delhi on September 12),” BSF Inspector General (Jammu Frontier) Rakesh Kumar told reporters.
He said, “we have told them that we have zero tolerance towards sniping, zero tolerance for infiltration and zero tolerance for cross border firing on the international border, and especially targeting of the civilian population”.
Another senior officer said, “BSF conveyed it to Pakistan Rangers in strong words that any misadventure on the International Border and the firing and shelling on Indian villages will not be tolerated at any cost.”
To questions on the outcome of talks, he said, “In the meetings, Pakistan Rangers appear to be very positive and it appears that now they will follow the norms… Talks do bring results and I am hopeful that these talks will also produce results.” It was agreed that meetings at local level between two border guarding forces should be held more frequently, an officer said.
After a lull of over a month, Pakistan Rangers resorted to heavy firing and mortar shelling from October 23 targetting large number of BoPs and border hamlets with 81, 82 mm mortar bombs and heavy machine guns till yesterday morning. It resulted in the death of a civilian and injuries to 14 others. Over two dozen bovines were also killed or injured.
On October 23, one civilian labourer Raj Kumar from Chhattisgarh was killed and two other civilians were injured in the firing by Pakistani Rangers along IB in Mangu Chack area on Samba sector. The next day, five civilians were injured in the Pakistani firing and shelling along IB in Mawa and Bhatti villages in Samba.
On October 25, six people were injured in Pak shelling in Bobiya area along IB in Hirnagar sector of Kathua district. One civilian was injured in Pak firing in Ramgarh belt of samba sector yesterday.
PTI