GREF man hurt in Pak shelling in Poonch dies

SRINAGAR: An employee of Gen eral Reserve Engineering Force (GREF), one of the five people injured in Pakistani shelling along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district on Thursday succumbed to his injuries on Friday, an official said.

Sub-divisional police officer Mendhar Riaz Tantray told HT Parvaiz Ahmed, who was work ing as a labourer with GREF was injured in Balnoi on Thurs day. He died at the Army Hospi tal in Rajouri on Friday, said Riaz.

This latest ceasefire violation came after a lull of two weeks.

GREF is part of the Border Roads Organisation, a division of the ministry of defence responsible for the upkeep of the road network along India’s fron tiers.

Four civilians have been killed in Pakistani shelling in Nowshera and Krishna Ghat sectors of Rajouri and Poonch districts since May 1 when two Indian soldiers — JCO Paramjit Singh and BSF head constable Prem Sagar — were killed and beheaded by the neighbouring country’s border action team.

The killings triggered heavy exchanges between the two sides in the twin border districts of Rajouri and Poonch.

A 2003 ceasefire is regularly violated along the LoC and goes up in the summer as the snow melts and mountain passes open through which militants are able to sneak into India. HTC