Pak Troops Open Unprovoked Fire on Indian Side in J&K

Pakistani troops opened fire at an Indian border post in the Krishna Ghati sector of Poonch district on Monday night, with firing going on for more than an hour, reported IANS quoting an army official.

Report said that no fatality was reported in the firing.

The officer said that the Pakistani troops from Kaddu post opened an unprovoked fire at Kranti post on the Indian side and that the Indian side retaliated to the firing, said report.

“They fired with machine guns and rockets for over an hour on our position,” a brigadier general of the Indian Army’s 16 Corps was quoted as saying on Tuesday.

Report said that the officer termed it as another violation of the November 2003 ceasefire agreement between the two countries.

The officer said that the reason for the firing was yet to ascertained which could also be ‘cover fire to infiltrators or some other reason. But the matter shall be taken up with Pakistan in a serious way’, said report.

It may be mentioned that infiltration attempts from Pakistan and firing across the border have been on the rise in recent months. The Border Security Force (BSF) has foiled about a dozen infiltration attempts this year near Jammu.

Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of BSF JB Sangwan said that the infiltration focus from the border near Jammu ‘signifies that militants were planning strikes in and around Jammu. We are on alert to foil such attempts’.

Security forces are anyway on high alert in the run-up to Republic Day, with additional deployment at vulnerable places.