After the total breakdown of talks between Pakistan Rangers and their Indian counterparts during the last three days, Pakistani troops upped the ante along the International Border (IB) and resorted to heavy shelling on civilian areas and BSF posts across Jammu Frontier on Tuesday evening. The situation was grim as more than 10,000 villagers were forced to flee their homes in the middle of a bitter winter. More than 50 villages along the IB were vacated by residents fearing further escalation of hostilities between the neighbouring countries.
The Government machinery is finding it difficult to deal with the crisis. The district administration in these areas is relying more on the help extended by the local formations of the Indian Army than any other agency. The Army jawans have been running community kitchens and medical camps for the displaced people across these relief camps.
Meanwhile, heavy exchange of fire, which stopped near midnight on Monday, resumed late on Tuesday evening along the border in Kathua, Hiranagar and Samba sectors. As many as 40 BSF posts were targeted by Pakistan Rangers. Director-General BSF, DK Pathak who rushed to Jammu to take stock of the emerging security situation along the IB told reporters at the BSF headquarters in Paloura: “We cannot go on taking the bullets and keep silent. We have been mandated to protect and defend the frontiers of the nation. If anyone continues to disturb the peace along the border we will hit back in equal measure.”
Referring to the breakdown of talks between Pakistan Rangers and the BSF, Pathak claimed: “On January 1 we spoke to each other on a number of occasions, but on January 3 when we tried to hand over a protest note to them through the established mechanism, they refused to accept the same. We even tried handing over the protest note at Wagah in Amritsar but they refused to accept the same. Since January 4 there has been no communication between Pakistan Rangers and BSF counterparts.”
Pathak also paid tributes to the martyred BSF jawan Devendra Singh, chaired a meeting of senior sector commanders and tried to boost the morale of BSF jawans. Addressing a Press conference later, he also said that in the last one week the BSF has foiled three to four infiltration bids from across the border. He said the Pakistani forces could be escalating the tension on the border to divert attention from the Peshawar blasts or doing the same ahead of the visit of US President Obama to India. He confirmed Intelligence reports regarding the presence of trained militants across the border waiting to infiltrate into India.