Srinagar, Jun 03: Terming as “unfortunate” the fresh bout of hostilities along the International Border in Jammu region, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today said the DGMOs of India and Pakistan should hold dialogue again and stop the bloodshed.
“The ceasefire violation on the border, in which two BSF jawans have been martyred and several civilians injured, is very unfortunate and it happened despite DGMO-level talks. It should not have happened,” Mehbooba told reporters here.
The Chief Minister said people on both sides of the border are getting killed by the firing and called upon DGMOs of both the countries to talk and end the bloodshed.
“People on both sides are dying. The DGMOs should meet again and talk and the shelling and bloodshed on the borders should be stopped,” she said.
Pak says one thing, does another: BSF IG
Jammu, Jun 03 (PTI) The latest attack on Indian forward points by Pakistani forces, in which two BSF troops were killed today, “has yet again proved that Islamabad said one thing and did another,” a senior official said here.
Inspector General of Border Security Force (BSF), Jammu frontier, Ram Awtar also ruled out that sniping or an attack by enemy personnel wearing ‘thermal camouflage suits’ led to the two casualties on the International Border (IB) here.
Both BSF personnel fell to cross-border firing from Pakistan, he said.
Assistant Sub-inspector Satya Narayan Yadav and Constable Vijay Kumar Pandey – both residents of Uttar Pardesh – were killed and 13 civilians injured in unprovoked and indiscriminate firing by Pakistani rangers in Akhnoor, Kanachak and Khour sectors of Jammu district today, officials said.
The violation comes nearly a week after DGMOs of both countries agreed to implement the ceasefire pact of 2003 in “letter and spirit”.
Awtar said “the ceasefire violation by Pakistan” after the recent DGMO level talks between New Delhi and Islamabad again proved that the neighbouring country’s words did not match its deeds.
“It is saying something but doing something else. The latest incident proved it once again,” he said. Awtar said the BSF was strictly implementing the decision taken at the DGMO level by the two countries last week.
“Suddenly, Pakistan started firing around 1.15 am, injuring two of our personnel who later succumbed,” he said referring to the latest incident. It was targeted firing on forward duty points by Pakistan, he added.
Talking to reporters after the wreath laying ceremony of the deceased personnel at the force headquarters here, the senior BSF officer said the casualties were not the result of sniping but of sudden cross-border firing from Pakistan.
“We have strongly responded and in the coming days we will come to know about the damage suffered by Pakistan in the retaliatory action,” he said.
He said the BSF did not target civilian locations but Pakistani forces did.
“We only targeted the locations that targeted us but Pakistan, on the other hand, started targeting civilian areas of Pragwal and Kanachak since wee hours resulting in civilian casualties and damage to civil property,” Awtar said.
Asked about rumours suggesting the casualties were caused by personnel wearing ‘thermal camouflage suits’ to avoid detection, he said “I don’t think something like that happened in this case.”
“There is a need to study this case thoroughly. After every incident we do a detailed study and accordingly take precautionary measures for the future. This incident of cross-border firing will be probed as well,” the BSF IG said.
Earlier today, the bodies of two slain personnel were brought to the BSF headquarters where the wreath ceremony was held to bid farewell to them.
State Power Minister Sunil Sharma and former health minister Bali Baghat joined senior BSF, police and civil officers to pay tributes to the slain personnel whose bodies were later sent to their hometowns in Uttar Pradesh.
