Woman killed in Pak shelling; three dead in Indian retaliation

JAMMU: A 24-year-old woman was killed on Tuesday in heavy shelling by the Pakistan Army, targeting villages along the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch district. Indian Army strongly retaliated to the Pakistani aggression and inflicted heavy damage on the other side of the fence, damaging many of the Pakistni posts.
If defence sources are to be believed, at least three casualties have been caused to Pakistan in Indian retaliation; however, officials could not confirm the same immediately.
The firing from Pakistani side was reported from Qasba and Kirni sectors in Poonch district.
"Pakistan initiated unprovoked firing of small arms and mortars at around 9.30 a.m," a defence spokesperson said.
A police official said the firing intensified as the day passed and spread to the nearby Shahpur sector, causing panic among the border residents.
“Shameema Akhtar, a resident of Noona-Bandi, was killed in the Pakistani shelling in the Shahpur sector,” Poonch District Development Commissioner Rahul Yadav informed.
Most of the people stayed indoors, police said, adding that Akhtar was hit by splinters after a mortar shell landed near her.
“Several houses suffered damages in the cross-border shelling. Four buffaloes also perished in the Pakistani shelling on forward villages and posts since the morning,” Yadav said.
A heavy exchange of fire was going on when the last reports were received, the official added.
The Indian Army retaliated effectively to silence the Pakistani guns, but the casualties suffered by the other side were not known immediately, a defence spokesman said.
However, credible sources said that three persons on Pakistani side have been killed in Indian retaliation and several of Pakistan Army’s posts have been destroyed.
The defence spokesman, however, couldn’t confirm the reports of death of Pakistanis immediately but said that the neighbouring country has suffered heavy losses.
The death of the woman raised the number of fatalities in Pakistani firing along the LoC in the past four days to three.
Earlier, two Army jawans were killed in two separate incidents of ceasefire violation in the Nowshera sector of Rajouri district and the Uri sector in Baramulla district on Friday and Sunday respectively.
Ceasefire violations by Pakistan are at a five-year high in the year 2019. There have been more than 2,300 instances of ceasefire violation till date this year as compared to 1,629 instances in entire 2018.
As per the Indian Army, the high number of ceasefire violations is linked to attempts by Pakistan to push terrorists into Jammu and Kashmir under the covering fire.
Intelligence reports have revealed that terrorists of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba have been kept in waiting along the LoC to be pushed into the Indian territory, whenever they sense a chance.
Meanwhile, government sources on Tuesday said that Pakistan has not yet responded to India's proposal on hosting the biannual meeting between the BSF and the Pakistan Rangers, another example of what appears to be the neighbour unilaterally snapping functional level contacts.
The meeting at the level of director generals of both the border guarding forces is scheduled to be held this month.
The biannual meeting has taken place regularly despite ups and downs in bilateral ties between the two countries in the past.
"This time the Indian side has proposed to hold the meeting in October, but the Pakistan Rangers has so far not confirmed its intention to participate in the meeting," said a source.
Another source said it is yet another instance of unilateral measures by Pakistan to stop functional level contacts.
Pakistan has been unsuccessfully trying to drum up international support against India for its decision to withdraw Jammu and Kashmir's special status and bifurcate the state into two union territories.
India's Border Security Force (BSF) and the Pakistan Rangers guard the international border between the two countries.
The two forces have been holding meetings at the level of director generals of the two forces as well as between sector commanders to maintain peace along the frontier.

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