Pak targeted 75 BSF posts in 36 hours
Sepoy Mandeep Singh was killed and his body mutiliated after terrorists entered a bunker in the Machil sector of Kupwara. The Army has vowed to avenge his killing. They said the fleeing terrorists were given fire cover by the Pakistan army. BSF constable Natin Subhash, who was hurt in an accidental explosion, succumbed to his injuries later.
The Pakistani and the Indian sides exchanged heavy fire in R.S. Pura and Machil sectors as families living along the border continued to migrate to safer places. Five more civilians received injuries by mortar firing from the other side on Saturday, police said. Six troopers have been killed and dozens of civilians including a minor injured as Pakistan Rangers targeted more than 75 BSF posts along LoC and Internatioal Border (IB) in the past 36 hours.
The Army said that they foiled an infiltration bid in Tangdhar sector of Kupwara on LoC and one Armyman was killed and another injured in the gunfight with infiltrators. The sudden firing by the Pakistani troops has forced fresh migration in Noushera, Krishagati and Palalanwala sectors in the Jammu region, with people fleeing to safer places, a local police official said. On Friday morning also, Pakistani troops started heavy firing and shelling in the Jammu sector and this resulted in fresh migration from 58 villages near the border on IB and LoC. According to the villagers in Kupwara sector and in the Noushera sector of Jammu, it is a war-like situation and troops movement has increased to such levels that they have started migrating.
Police said that heavy shelling started in early hours of Friday at Noushera, Sundarbani, Krishagati and Pallanwala along the LoC. There have been a dozen ceasefire violations until Friday afternoon, triggering panic in the villages near the border. Hundreds of villagers who left their cattle and fields on the border told reporters in Jammu that they will not go back to their homes unless the two countries broker peace.
The Suchetgarh area, which the state government wanted to promote as a border tourism destination, has been worst hit in the past few days. Police said that Pakistani troops were using 82 mm and 120 mm mortars, automatics and small arms to target the villages and bunkers. Track II dialogue has been initiated in the simmering Kashmir valley with a fivemember delegation led by senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha meeting the separatists and other stakeholders in Srinagar. Sinha’s team comprised Wajahat Habibullah, former Chief Information Commissioner (CIC), Air Vice Marshal Kapil Kak, senior journalist Bharat Bhushan and Executive Director of the Centre for Dialogue and Reconciliation, Shashooba Barway. Sources close to the delegates indicated that formal talks would follow soon. Highly placed sources said that the delegation has conveyed their agenda during closed door meetings with the separatists, especially with Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq.
Mirwaiz told the delegation that it was high time for the Central government to start a meaningful dialogue for the final resolution of the Kashmir dispute.
Mirwaiz’s aide Professor