The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Saturday, May 25, 2002, Chandigarh, India

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Pak missile tests from today

New Delhi, May 24
Pakistan has informed India that it plans to carry out a series of missile tests from May 25 to 28.

“We have been informed by Pakistan that it plans to carry out a series of missile tests comprising short and medium range missiles and that appropriate notifications have been issued for these tests, which are scheduled between May 25 and 28,” a spokesperson for the External Affairs Ministry told reporters here.

While notifying India about the tests, Pakistan has said “This is routine and not central to the current situation” between the two countries, she said.

“The Government of India is not particularly impressed by these missile antics, clearly targeted at the domestic audience in Pakistan,” the spokesperson said.

India would also expect Pakistan “to dismantle the training camps for terrorists, to destroy the support and financing structures for the terrorist networks and to show conclusively that it has abandoned its use and promotion of terrorism as an instrument of state policy,” she said.

Though the Pakistani Government has not specified the type of missiles it is going to test, experts here believe that Islamabad would be conducting final flight test of Shaheen II which has a range of 1500 km. The tests may also include short range missile with a strike capacity of 600 km to 900 km.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Friday said heavy military build-up by India had hampered its efforts to fight against terrorists on the Afghanistan front and urged the international community to make greater efforts to persuade New Delhi to de-escalate.

“Rising military tensions with India have come to a point, where Pakistan was forced to withdraw its forces from the Afghan border,” defence spokesman, Maj-Gen Rashid Qureshi said.

Eight Pak soldiers killed
Tribune News Service and agencies

Army jawan keeps a strict vigil in view of the heightened tension at the Indo-Pak border in Jammu on Thursday.
— PTI photo

Jammu, May 24
At least eight Pakistani soldiers were killed and seven of their bunkers destroyed when Indian forces opened retaliatory artillery fire on frontier Pakistani positions across the Line of Control (LoC) at Khari Karmara, Jhalas, Shahpur, Kerni and Kopri areas of Poonch sector since late last night.

Highly-placed security sources said here this afternoon that Pakistani Regulars from the 10 Corps opened heavy and unprovoked fire from 82 MM mortar guns on forward Indian formations at Shahpur and Jhalas at 2.30 a.m. yesterday targeting forward bunkers and communication towers and continued to rain fire for the next 45 minutes inviting retaliation from the Indian troops.

In reply, troops opened fire from similar calibre guns and in the first two hours of cross-border mortar duel two Pakistani soldiers were killed and three of their bunkers destroyed, sources said.

Peeved at fierce Indian retaliation the Pakistani Regulars opened fire from 105 MM field guns at Khari Karmara, Kerni and Kopri areas and continued to shower artillery fire galvanising the Indians to retaliate in the same vein.

In the artillery duel, which lasted for more than three hours, three more Regulars of the neighbouring nation’s army were killed and four more of their bunkers destroyed. The artillery duel simmered gradually and intermittent heavy gunfire was continuing when reports last came in.

According to official sources, in the Indian retaliatory firing and shelling, the entire Raja Rani post across Digwar village in Poonch was destroyed.

“The official reports said that the Pak forces resorted to small arms fire in Arnia, Samba, Hiranagar and R. S. Pora sectors. However, no damage was caused on this side. The Indian troops retaliated and caused extensive damage to the Pak bunkers and other installations.

Defence Ministry sources said Pakistan had further moved three more tank regiments across Hiranagar, Poonch, Kupwara and Rajouri sectors. They said during the past 10 days, more than 20,000 Pak soldiers had been sent to the LoC and the international border to assist over three lakh soldiers already deployed across the entire LoC and the international border.

Meanwhile, the Army today foiled an infiltration bid by Lashker-e-Toiba (LeT) militants along the LoC killing three of them in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir, official sources here said.

A group of heavily armed militants entered Indian territory under the cover of shelling from across the border into the Dobi-Sabzian area at around 2.45 a.m., the sources said, adding that on being challenged they fired on naka parties of the Army.

In the exchange of fire, three militants were killed while others fled, they said.

Some arms, ammunition and explosives were seized from the encounter site, the sources said.

Paramilitary trooper keeps guard from atop his armoured vehicle in Srinagar on Friday. — Reuters photo

SRINAGAR: A series of blasts and selective killings left two persons dead and eight others, mostly security personnel, injured while four militants were shot dead in Jammu and Kashmir since Thursday.

At least three security personnel were critically wounded when their vehicle was blown up after militants detonated a powerful improvised explosive device (IED) at Sayan Wagam Kokernag in south Kashmir on Friday.

Militants hurled a hand grenade towards the Border Security Force bunker near Ziyarat Sahib Batmaloo on Thursday night causing injuries to a jawan and a civilian.

Ultras triggered an IED near Chana Kote on Friday resulting in injuries to two Special Police Officers and a Village Defence Committee member.

However, the security forces averted a tragedy when they detected and defused a powerful IED planted by militants at Bheli on the Doda-Udhampur road on Thursday evening.

The spokesman said militants shot dead one person at Sopore while one Mohammad Maqbool Lone was killed in a shoot-out between ultras and the security forces at Zab Magam woods in the frontier district of Kupwara. Militants however, managed to escape.

The security forces gunned down a militant in an encounter near a Border Out Post at Sawjian on Thursday night.

Another ultra was killed by the security forces at Nowpora Pathi Akhran village on Thursday night.

GURDASPUR: Pakistan troops on Friday resorted to unprovoked firing on Indian defence positions for the third consecutive day near Kotli Jawahar and Bhopalpur villages which are close to the Jammu border.

The Indian troops retaliated, silencing the Pakistani guns. There was no loss of life on the Indian side, while across the international border smoke could be seen billowing out in Masoor village, an official spokesman here said. The exchange of fire lasted for an hour.

Meanwhile, a report from Amritsar, quoting border range IGP Rajan Gupta, said, Kotli Jawahar and Bhopalpur villages were affected by the enemy shelling because of their proximity to the Jammu border which has been active since long.

Though there is tension along the 553-km-long Punjab border, there were no cross-border firing incidents here, he added.

According to a report from New Delhi, the Army on Friday denied that there had been shelling by Pakistan along the international border in Gurdaspur district of Punjab.