M A I N   N E W S

Pak troops fire at Indian post

JODHPUR, Feb 20 (PTI) — Pakistan opened unprovoked fire at the Sherpur check-post in the Samrana area of the Bikaner sector yesterday killing a person each on either side of the international border, BSF sources said here today.

The firing, which continued for seven hours, was retaliated by the Indian forces, BSF headquarters, Rajasthan and Gujarat, said the sources.

Despite regular requests for a flag meeting the Pakistani Rangers did not pay any heed. The firing ceased late last night following a meeting, the sources said.

Concrete bunkers have been made within the Pakistan border, the sources said, adding shifting of war gadgets from one place to another was also observed. “Perhaps they wanted to hide something by taking recourse to firing for so long a time” the sources said.

JAISALMER (UNI): An “uneasy calm” prevailed today on the Indo-Pak border at Satarana in Bikaner district of Rajasthan which was pounded with artillery fire by Pakistani Rangers yesterday.

Though the shelling stopped last evening, the area remained tense, said Mr Bakhasheesh Singh, Director-General of the Border Security Force (Rajasthan-Gujarat Front) today.

The Pak Rangers had opened fire at the Sherpur border post of the BSF and another nearby post yesterday morning inviting retaliation from the BSF.

Pak expels 3 Indian staffers

ISLAMABAD, Feb 20 (PTI, UNI) — Two days after India expelled three Pakistani High Commission staffers in New Delhi, Islamabad today expelled three senior officials of the Indian High Commission here for allegedly “indulging in activities incompatible with their official status”.

Indian Deputy High Commissioner Sudhir Vyas was summoned to the Foreign Office this morning and told about the expulsion of Mr Gopal Chandra Roy, Mr Asit Baran Das and Mr R. Sankarnarayanan.

The three Indian officials, declared persona non grata, have been asked to leave Pakistan by February 27, a Foreign Office statement here said.

Mr Vyas was told of the “undesirable conduct and activities of these officials”, the statement added. However, no specific charges were brought against the three officials.

India on February 18 had expelled three staff members of the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi for similar reasons.

Earlier, on January 16, Mr P. Moses, a clerk in the Indian High Commission here, had been picked up and roughed up by Pakistani intelligence operatives. He was shown on PTV “confessing” to carrying a remote control explosive and expelled shortly afterwards.