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Pakistani troops fire on BSF unit, force says gave a ‘befitting reply’
Pakistani rangers fired upon a Border Security Force (BSF) patrolling party in Jammu and Kashmir’s Arnia sector on Tuesday morning and BSF said they have given a ‘befitting reply’
Pakistani rangers fired upon a Border Security Force (BSF) patrolling party in Jammu and Kashmir’s Arnia sector on Tuesday morning in a case of ceasefire violation and the BSF gave a “befitting” response to the “unprovoked firing,” officials familiar with the matter said.
The violation came on a day when Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is on a visit to India.
“Today (Tuesday) morning, the alert BSF Jammu troops gave a befitting reply to the unprovoked firing by Pak rangers on BSF patrolling party in Arnia Sector,” a statement issued by a BSF spokesperson said.
“No loss (of lives) or injury (reported) to the BSF troops,” the statement added.
Later in the day, the BSF and Pak Rangers held a flag meeting on the IB in Arnia sector and reiterated their resolve to abide by the truce deal, renewed by both the countries last year.
“The company commander level meeting at 1.45 pm on border ended in a cordial atmosphere”, said BSF Jammu Frontier DIG S P S Sandhu.
“The issue of unprovoked firing was discussed and both sides agreed to exercise maximum restraint on the border. Both sides agreed to respect the existing norms in future. The meeting ended in a cordial atmosphere,” he added.
Giving details of the incident, an official familiar with the matter said: “As part of routine work, few BSF men had gone beyond the border fence to clear vegetation near Chinaz border outpost of the BSF around 8.40 am. However, Pak Rangers opened around 25-30 rounds of small arms fire on the BSF men.”
“Following unprovoked fire by the Rangers, BSF also retaliated ...” said the official, asking not to be named.
Later, BSF Jammu Frontier IG, DK Boora, rushed to Chinaz post to take stock of the situation.
India shares a 3,323-km-long border with Pakistan — 221 km of the International Border (IB) and 744km of the LoC (Line of Control) fall in J&K. Both countries had agreed on February 24, 2021, to strictly observe all agreements and understandings related to cross-border firing along the LoC and IB in J&K, among other sectors.
An officer who didn’t want to be named said other incidents of firing by Pakistani troops have also taken place in the last one-and-a-half years but Tuesday’s incident was “a major one” and came amid Hasina’s India visit.
Immediate and effective retaliation by the Indian Army and BSF is carried out during instances of unprovoked firing and ceasefire violations by Pakistan along the LoC and IB, said a second officer.
Prior to the 2021 agreement, there were 5,133 incidents of ceasefire violations in 2020, 3,479 in 2019 and 2,140 in 2018, according to government data. However, these incidents came down to around 700 last year. The data for 2022 is not available yet.
The Indian government has maintained that the onus is on Pakistan to create a conducive atmosphere by taking credible, verifiable and irreversible action to not allow any territory under its control to be used for cross-border terrorism against India in any manner.
