Pakistan says India violating ceasefire

Srinagar: Sub-divisional police officer of Ranbir Singh Pura, Devender Singh, confirmed that soon after midnight the Pakistan Rangers started targeting the entire border belt of Arnia and Ranbir Singh Pura, as well as Hamirpur sub-sector along the LoC in Poonch district.

However, in Sialkot, Pakistani officials claimed the BSF had violated the November 2003 ceasefire agreement by firing mortars and automatic weapons. They said two civilians, including a woman, were killed and six others injured in shelling by Indian forces early on Saturday.

BSF IG Rakesh Kumar said, “Our jawans took positions and responded with equal calibre weapons to Pakistani firing, which resulted in a heavy exchange of fire till 7 am on Saturday.

The police said that in Jora farm area, a civilian, Akram Hussain, and his son Aslam were killed and three other family members injured when a Pakistani shell exploded inside their house after tearing through the roof.

Both BSF and police officials termed the latest cross-border firing as the “heaviest unprovoked and indiscriminate firing and shelling by Pakistan Rangers this year along the IB on the Jammu frontier, in violation of the 2003 ceasefire agreement”.

In their counter-claim, Pakistani officials said Indian border guards started firing in Charwah sector of Sialkot at around 1 am (local time) and added the Pakistan Rangers retaliated with heavy gunfire and that this was the second incident of cross-border firing from the Indian side in a week.

The BSF said that the Pakistan Rangers fired 82-mm mortars, besides automatic weapons, to target 22 border outposts and civilian areas along the IB in Arnia and Ranbir Singh Pura.