Unprovoked ceasefire violation by Pakistan kills BSF jawan on his birthday

NEW DELHI: BSF head constable Radha Pad Hazra was on Wednesday killed in an incident of unprovoked firing by Pakistan, along the India-Pakistan border in Jammu.

54-year-old Hazra was killed after Pakistan forces "sniped" from across the border in the Samba sector of Jammu and Kashmir, officers of the force said. The jawan, who was rushed to a nearby medical centre, succumbed to his injuries.

The incident took place around 4.30pm. Retaliatory fire has been initiated, a senior BSF officer said.

Hazra, who hails from Murshidabad in West Bengal, had served for about 27 years in the border-guarding force. It was Hazra's birthday today.

He is survived by a 21-year-old daughter and an 18-year-old son.

The incident came just days after an army personnel was killed along the Line of Control (LoC) in Rajouri district on December 31 last year.

Sepoy Jagsir Singh (32) was killed when he was shot by Paksitani troops from across the border along the LoC in Rajouri district on the last day of 2017, the year which recorded the highest number of ceasefire violations in the past decade resulting in the death of 35 people including 19 army personnel and four BSF men.

India shares a 3,323-km border with Pakistan, of which 221 km of the IB and 740 km of the LoC fall in Jammu and Kashmir.

On December 23, an Army major and three soldiers were killed along the LoC in Rajouri and in retaliatory action, Indian troops killed three Pakistani soldiers in Pakistan- occupied Kashmir two days later.

The BSF guards the Indo-Pak International Border (IB) in the region.


(With inputs from PTI)