Srinagar, May 14
Less than a week after cross border firing in Samba sector of Jammu region, the Pakistan army, violating the ceasefire, reportedly fired from across the LoC on Tuesday evening in Tangdhar sector of Kupwara district in north Kashmir.
The incident took place at around 6 pm when the Pakistan Army opened unprovoked fire towards Papa bunker in Tangdhar area last evening, said defence PRO Lt-Col A. K. Mathur.
He said Pakistan troops fired around 60 to 80 rounds in the area that continued for about eight minutes. There was no retaliation from the troops on this side of the LoC, the spokesman said. No damage or any injury to anyone was not reported as a result of the firing, he added.
According to the officials the matter has been taken up at the level of the DGMO of the two sides and subsequently a flag meeting was being organised to sort out the matter. The matter is being taken up as the Indian Army has lodged a strong protest in view of the incident, first of its kind since ceasefire came into force four and a half years back.
There have been no such incidents reported along the LoC in Kashmir and Ladakh regions of this state since the ceasefire came into force on
November 26, 2003. The reports, however, suggested that the unprovoked firing had not been to facilitate the infiltration of armed militants from the other side into Kashmir.
Amid the ongoing ceasefire only two and a half years ago, the troops and people on either side of the LoC had been extending support to those quake affected on either side. Tangdhar in Kupwara district and Uri in Baramulla district, close to the LoC, were the most affected regions along the areas on the other side due to the devastating earthquake on October 8, 2005.
It was last Thursday night that the Border Security Force (BSF) reportedly foiled an infiltration bid on the international border in Samba sector of the Jammu region. The officials had claimed that a group of armed infiltrators, trying to sneak in under the cover of firing by the Pakistan Rangers, had managed to escape.
However, two days later a fierce encounter had taken place in the area in which eight persons including a political leader and his wife and a photojournalist were killed. The incident had raised questions on the BSF claim of foiling the infiltration bid.
