Ceasefire violations: Two killed in unprovoked firing by India

BSF claims two Indian civilians also died in firing by Pakistani troops

ISLAMABAD:

Pakistani officials on Saturday accused Indian troops of killing two civilians in “unprovoked firing” across the border in Punjab.

Pakistani officials said the incident occurred in Sialkot region which faces the south of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir and where another civilian was killed by Indian firing last month.

According to military sources, Indian BSF sources have committed 23 ceasefire violations by resorting to unprovoked firing on the working boundaries in Charwa and Harpal sectors in July and August. They added that three civilians were killed and nearly 12 people injured earlier in the month of August.

“Today, Indian Border Security Forces (BSF) once again resorted to unprovoked firing in Chaprar and Harpal sectors on the working boundary near Sialkot. Two civilians, including a woman and a 60-year-old man, died due to the BSF firing,” a senior military official revealed.

“Intermittent exchange of fire is still continuing at this stage,” he added.

“Indian officials claimed two civilians on their side of the border also died in firing by Pakistani forces”, Indian police inspector-general Rajesh Kumar said.

On August 8, Pakistan freed an Indian soldier captured after he was swept into the Pakistani zone of Kashmir when his patrol boat capsized.

However, on August 11 both countries again exchanged accusations of cross-border firing. 

Published in The Express Tribune, August 24^th, 2014.