The Rangers were using long-range mortars which were falling as far as Pargwal town nearly 10 km away from the border. (Representational)
Two Border Security Force (BSF) personnel were killed and three civilians including a woman injured as Pakistani Rangers resorted to unprovoked mortar shelling on forward Indian positions and civilian areas along the international border in Pargwal area of Jammu in the wee hours of Sunday. The ceasefire violation comes just a week after the Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) of both India and Pakistan agreed to implement the ceasefire pact in ‘letter and spirit.’
Identifying the deceased as ASI S N Yadav and constable P K Pandey, sources said that initially small arms fire came from across the border around 2.15 am, which later heightened to mortar shelling. A police official in the area said that the Rangers were using long-range mortars which were falling as far as Pargwal town nearly 10 km away from the border.
The panic-stricken villagers were staying indoors as they were unable to move to safer places in view of intense shelling in the area, sources said, adding that over a dozen villages were hit by the shelling. The BSF was retaliating, however, there has been no word from BSF so far.
In a new start to what was being seen as a step towards cooling down the situation on the international border, the Director Generals of Military Operations (DGMOs) of the two armies had spoken on the hotline and “agreed to fully implement the Ceasefire Understanding of 2003 in letter and spirit forthwith” on the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir.
This reiteration followed Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s “ceasefire” announcement on May 16 that security forces will terminate all offensive operations in Kashmir during the month of Ramzan. According to official data, there were 860 ceasefire violations in 2017 which led to the death of 15 Indian soldiers. The number of violations has already shot up to 908 so far this year in which Indian Army has lost 11 soldiers. The Pakistan Army, however, claims there were 1,813 ceasefire violations in 2017 while the number in 2018, so far, is 1,321.