Pakistan Rangers refused to hold flag meetings: DG
Even though guns fell silent along the International Border in Jammu frontier for the first time in the last fortnight, BSF Director-General DK Pathak on Tuesday claimed that the recent cross-border firing by Pakistan was so far the heaviest and most prolonged since the 1971 war.
“Firing has been going on along the International Border for the last 45 days and I have not seen such a heavy volume of cross-border firing in recent years ever since the 1971 war,” he said. Two civilians and one BSF jawan have been killed and 17 others injured in the cross-border firing that has been going on since July 16, 2014. During the period Pakistan violated the ceasefire agreement 33 times and triggered large-scale migration of villagers living in border areas to safer places.
The BSF DG said Pakistan Rangers also violated “ethics of conflict” by targeting civilian areas with heavy mortar shells and by refusing to hold flag meetings despite repeated invitations. Pathak, who arrived here from New Delhi on Tuesday, also attended a high-level security review meeting with senior officers at the Jammu frontier and boosted the morale of BSF jawans deployed on border posts.
Addressing a Press conference in RS Pura Sector, Pathak said: “We want peace to prevail along the International Border. But when our border posts are fired upon and our civilian areas are targeted, we cannot be mute spectators. Our mandate is very clear, any cross-border firing has to be dealt with and appropriately retaliated and that’s what we are doing.”
He said when border tensions escalated BSF officers made every possible effort to defuse the situation but their Pakistani counterparts seldom responded to the peace overtures and even violated the ethics of conflict by targeting civilian areas.
“We do not know why Pakistan Rangers escalated tensions on the border, especially a day after we thanked them for handing over a BSF jawan who had been swept into Pakistan by the fast-flowing Chenab River,” he said.
Pathak claimed the BSF never targeted civilian areas across the border nor initiated firing on its own. “We only responded to the unprovoked firing from across the border. We are mandated to guard the frontiers of the nation and we were discharging our duty to the best of our ability,” he added.
Commenting on the presence of trained militants in Pakistani posts close to the International Border, Pathak said there were 25 to 30 launching pads along the International Border in J&K where heavily-armed militants were taking shelter while waiting to infiltrate into Indian territory. He said these launching pads were located in villages, school buildings, community halls and forest areas close to the posts of Pakistan Rangers.
Meanwhile, hundreds of villagers heaved a sigh of relief on Monday night as the guns fell silent after the fortnight-long heavy shelling. large numbers of villagers gathered courage and visited their homes in forward villages after spending over five days in makeshift camps set up in schools in RS Pura area. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh is also expected to visit the border areas of Jammu frontier on August 29 to take stock of the ground situation.