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BSF jawan injured in Jammu’s Arnia as Pakistan firing continues till 3am
Police teams visit affected villages along border; panic-stricken villagers urge govt to build bunkers and provide bulletproof ambulances after recent incidents of ceasefire violation
The Border Security Force (BSF) on Friday said that Pakistani Rangers resorted to unprovoked firing and shot mortars in Arnia sector till 3am, injuring one of its personnel.
“Pakistani Rangers resorted to unprovoked firing and mortar shelling in Arnia, which was befittingly responded to by the BSF. Intermittent firing continued till 3am,” a BSF spokesperson said. He said the BSF personnel had sustained minor injuries and had been provided medical aid.
Also read: BSF gives detailed account of Pakistan’s mortar fire, says ‘retaliated in befitting manner’
However, intelligence officials said on Thursday evening that two BSF men and a woman were injured in the firing in Arnia. They were identified as Basavraj SR and Sher Singh. The injured woman was identified as Rajni Bala, 38, wife of Balbir Singh, a resident of Ward 5, Arnia.
At 8pm on Thursday, panic gripped residents of over a dozen border villages in Arnia and RS Pura sectors of Jammu district after Pakistani Rangers opened unprovoked firing from automatic weapons and resorted to mortar shelling on BSF posts, prompting the BSF to retaliate in equal measure.
The BSF is on high alert along the 198-km border.
Villagers urge govt to build bunkers
On Friday, police teams visited the affected village of Bhulle Chak in RS Pura where a Pakistani mortar exploded in the verandah of a house, damaging the adjoining kitchen. The walls bore shrapnel marks. The house belonged to one Om Parkash, BSF sources said, adding the family escaped unhurt.
Sai Khurd sarpanch Vijay Choudhary said, “Pakistan suddenly opened heavy fire on Thursday night after two-and-a-half years. We urge the government to build bunkers for us on a war-footing. Whenever elections and festivals approach, Pakistan starts firing. They can’t be trusted. We are apprehensive of another round on Friday evening. If they start again, we’ll be compelled to migrate to safer places,” he said.
Videos and a audio clip of a Pakistani officer, accessed by HT, reveal the impact of India’s retaliatory fire in the forward areas of Pakistan.
The officer is heard telling his colleague to take precautionary measures, including alerting people from mosque loudspeakers, in the wake of intense firing and shelling by the BSF.
Intelligence sources said the Rangers targeted the BSF’s Vikram and Chinaj posts in Arnia sector. “Two BSF jawans were injured,” they said, but the BSF later confirmed injuries to only one guard.
Migrant labourers, women run for cover
Rakesh Kumar of Arnia, the largest populated town on the border in Jammu region, said: “Pak Rangers first opened machine gun fire on Vikram post and then targeted Chinaj post as well. They shot a couple of illumination flares in the sky.”
Soon after the unprovoked firing began, migrant farm labourers, including women and children, were seen running to safety.
They worked in the forward areas in Arnia to eke out a living.
Rohit Choudhary, a National Conference activist who was attending an event in Arnia, said, “Announcements were made from a temple loudspeaker asking villagers to switch off lights of their houses.” Choudhary requested the government to deploy bulletproof ambulances in forward Arnia and RS Pura sectors.
Taranjit Singh Tony, a Congress leader from RS Pura, said migrant labourers engaged for harvesting paddy have fled amid the firing and shelling.
Ceasefire violation since October 17
On October 21, BSF personnel had fired warning shots after a group of people escorted by Pakistani Rangers came close to the border in Arnia sector.
After the firing, the suspicious elements had retreated to Pakistan.
On October 17, two BSF personnel were injured when Pakistani troops resorted to unprovoked firing on an Indian post in Arnia, the first major ceasefire violation along the border in Jammu region.
The BSF had lodged a strong protest with Pakistani Rangers at the commandant-level flag meeting last Thursday.
Pakistan had raised a white flag and renewed the mutually brokered truce deal in February 2021.
The truce deal by and large remained in place since then, barring few around a dozen incidents of sporadic fire by Pakistan.
The guns largely fell silent on either side of the border since February 2021.
Before February 25, 2021 there had been escalation of firing and mortar shelling between Indian and Pakistani forces on the LoC and IB, which had caused killings of villagers on either side of the border.
The two neighbouring countries had first inked the mutually brokered truce deal in November 2003, but it was hardly regarded by Pakistan.
India shares a 3,323-km-long border with Pakistan, of which 221km of the IB and 744km of the LoC fall in Jammu and Kashmir.
