Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Aug 5: Pakistani Rangers twice resorted to firing on forward Indian positions of the Border Security Force (BSF) along the International Border (IB) in Ramgarh sector of Samba district today causing serious injuries to a BSF Head Constable after which IG BSF, Jammu Frontiers, Rajiv Krishna warned the Rangers of consequences if they didn’t mend their ways.
Mr Krishna, who visited Ramgarh sector after the firing for on spot assessment of the situation along with other senior BSF officers including DIG Varinder Singh and CO 200 BSF Hemant Kumar, said the BSF would lodged a strong protest with the Rangers over unprovoked act of firing on the International Border and give an effective reply. He added that the BSF jawan was injured in sniper shot fired by the Rangers.
This was the third incident of firing on the IB in past one week. In the first incident, a BSF Head Constable was injured in Hiranagar sector while in the second incident, the infiltrators had escaped after firing by throwing Rs 4.96 lakh worth fake currency besides arms and ammunition in RS Pura sector.
Official sources said the Pakistani Rangers opened firing from their Ashraf Post directly targeting forward Indian posts at Narayanpur in Ramgarh sector of Samba district at 4 pm today. Amidst the firing, the Rangers fired a sniper shot targeting the BSF jawan directly.
The jawan identified as BSF Head Constable Ram Niwas Meena was hit in his chest while he was manning a forward BSF post causing serious injuries to him.
The BSF jawans evacuated Meena from the forward post and shifted him to local hospital from where he was referred to Government Medical College Hospital in Jammu, where his condition was stated to be stable.
Again at 6.55 pm, the Rangers again fired several shots towards the Indian positions in the same sector prompting the BSF to retaliate very effectively to silence guns of the Rangers.
The BSF jawans, who have been maintaining a very high alert on the IB, conducted searches on the border after the Pakistani firing but they didn’t find any traces of the infiltrators.
“The firing appeared to have been directly aimed at the BSF jawans to cause casualties among them,’’ sources said describing this act of Rangers as “extremely provocative’’.
Last week, Pakistani Rangers had opened firing in Hiranagar sector injuring a BSF Head Constable and a civilian. Second incident of firing was reported in RS Pura sector where after the BSF retaliation the infiltrators had escaped leaving behind Rs 4.96 lakh worth fake currency, one Chinese pistol and ammunition. The BSF had seized the consignment.
Sources said three incidents of ceasefire violations by the Pakistani Rangers have been viewed very seriously by the BSF, which has already lodged a strong protest with the Rangers, who, as usual, continued to remain in denial mode.
Meanwhile, speaking to reporters present at the IB covering the firing incident, Mr Krishna said the BSF jawan was injured in a sniper shot fired by the Rangers from across the IB.
“This is after a long time that the Rangers had fired sniper shot to directly target a BSF jawan,’’ he said, adding the BSF has viewed the incident very seriously and was going to lodge a strong protest with the Rangers.
“We are going to lodge a very strong protest with the Rangers over such type of incident in which the BSF jawan has been targeted by a sniper shot,’’ the IG BSF said.
He added that the BSF was maintaining a very high alert all along the International Border as there were reports that a number of militants were camping on Pakistani side across the IB in Jammu sector awaiting an opportunity to sneak-in.
“The presence of the militants across the IB on Pakistan side has increased during past three months,’’ Mr Krishna said.
Despite all this, he added, the BSF has succeeded in ensuring zero infiltration along the International Border. He said sniper shot targeting the BSF jawan indicated frustration on part of the Rangers.
DIG BSF Varinder Singh said the Rangers resorted to firing twice—first at 4 pm and second at 6.55 pm. “We retaliated and gave an effective response to the Rangers,’’ he added.
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