After receiving inputs from ground zero about the presence of Pakistani Army regulars inside posts occupied by Pakistani Rangers along the International border, the Border Security Force (BSF) has beefed up its defences to give them the befitting reply.
In the wake of increasing hostilities and total breakdown of talks at the Sector Commander-level, even the political establishment at the highest level in New Delhi has given its nod to the ‘foot soldiers’ to effectively deal with the incidents of ‘unprovoked’ firing from across the border.Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday evening attended a high-level meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his 7 Race Course residence and briefed him about the prevailing situation. After the meeting, the Field Commanders were instructed to strongly retaliate the fire from across the loC.
Since July 16, 2014 when BSF jawan was killed in cross border firing, at least 30 major ceasefire violations have been reported in the RS Pura, Arnia sector of Jammu frontier.Inspector General of BSF, Jammu range, Rakesh Sharma on Sunday briefed media about the prevailing security situation and claimed that morale of BSF jawans was very high and they were determined to defend the borders.
When quizzed repeatedly about the presence of Pakistani Army regulars along with Pakistani Rangers, the IG BSF claimed, “ground reports clearly indicate Pakistani Army is possibly backing Pakistani Rangers along the International border”. We have gathered inputs and we cannot completely rule out their presence in posts occupied by the Pakistani Rangers.
He said that during the night of August 23, the Pakistani Rangers targeted at least 25 Border posts of RS Pura, Jammu and Akhnoor with mortar shells and heavy volume firing. Several civilian areas were also targeted by the Pakistani Rangers using 82 mm mortar shells. large number of border residents feeling insecure in the wake of increasing hostilities decided to shift their families to safer places. The district administration is working over time to accommodate increasing number of border residents in safer places.
Commenting on the intention of the Pakistani Rangers behind escalating tensions and not responding to the calls for holding Flag meetings to deescalate the tension IG, BSF said, “so far we have invited the Pakistani Rangers to hold flag meetings on 16 occasions, but they have not responded to our requests”.He said we have also noticed movement of heavily armed infiltrators close to the International border but we have not allowed them to come closer to the border.