Take ‘strongest possible’ action against unsoldierly act, BSF told

Tense border on high alert; unusual bustle across the fence

JAMMU: Amidst brewing anger against the Pakistani Rangers for barbaric act of killing a Border Security Force soldier and disfiguring his body, the Home Minister Rajnath Singh is believed to have told the border guarding force to take strongest possible against the perpetrators across the border.

Even as the Ministry of External Affairs said that it will take up the issue with Pakistan in an “appropriate” manner, the BSF has registered a strong protest with its Pakistani counterpart over the killing and slitting of throat of one of its jawans in Jammu and has told the Pak Rangers that the act was "un-soldierly". The sources said the Pakistani side, which spoke to the Border Security Force officials in the noon over phone, "denied any hand" in the killing of Head Constable Narender Singh on September 18.

Rajnath Singh is believed to have told the BSF to take strongest possible action against the Pakistani troops. This was conveyed to the top brass of the border guarding force which is deployed along the highly volatile Indo-Pak border.

The home minister told top officials of the BSF in no uncertain terms that the strongest possible action should be taken against the Pakistani troops involved in Tuesday's incident, a home ministry official, privy to the development, said to a news agency.

The BSF jawan's throat was slit and his body bore multiple bullet injuries. The missing trooper was found killed by Pakistani troops in the Jammu region, in a first-of-its-kind barbaric act against Indian forces along the International Border.

Another official said the BSF is expected to take some "pro-active" action against the Pakistan Rangers to "avenge" the mutilation of the jawan's body.

The brutal incident in the Ramgarh sector yesterday was reminiscent of similar attacks in the past on Indian security forces along the Line of Control.

Meanwhile, as usual, Pakistan has refused to accept the responsibility of ghastly crime on the border. "A brief phone call talk took place between the two sides this noon. When it was brought to the notice of Pakistan that they had killed the jawan by resorting to unprovoked fire, they flatly refused any hand of their troops in the incident," a senior official said.

They added that on getting this response, the BSF told the other side that any future misadventure on the India-Pakistan border will be the responsibility of the Pak Rangers.

This was the second round of protest that the BSF registered with their counterparts in the last over three days over the killing and throat slitting of their jawan who along with seven others had gone beyond the border fence in the Ramgarh sector as part of a elephant grass (sarkanda) cutting patrol.

The official said the force has issued a "high alert" to all its forward locations on the 192-km-long frontier in Jammu in the backdrop of this incident which is suspected to be "handiwork of a probably a pair of troops from the other side".

The force, they said, has also observed the movement of helicopters and drones in the forward locations across the border in Jammu and hence border posts and patrols have been asked to remain extra vigilant, they said.

The force has also sought, they said, for a sector commander-level (Deputy Inspector General rank level) talks between the two sides in Jammu to thrash out issues but has not received any positive response.

They added that various field formations of the force have been receiving 'spoof calls' from across the border where people masquerading as government intelligence operatives or journalists want to seek details about the incident.

Over a dozen calls have been received over the last two days on the personal and official numbers of field officers and it is suspected that the calls are being made from across the border, they said.