Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Sept 3: After brief lull, Pakistan violated ceasefire and opened heavy firing on forward Indian Army posts along the Line of Control (LoC) in Krishna Ghati sector in Poonch district last night while India today declared that it would be raising the issue of ceasefire violations and frequent infiltration attempts by the militants on the International Border (IB) during Director Generals level meeting between the Border Security Force (BSF) and Rangers scheduled to be held from September 9 to 13 in New Delhi.
Official sources told the Excelsior that DG BSF DK Pathak and DG Pakistan Rangers (Punjab) Maj Gen Umar Farooq Burki will meet along with other delegation officials in New Delhi from September 9 to 13 during which the Indian delegation will take up repeated ceasefire violations by the Rangers on the International Border including the latest one in RS Pura and Arnia sectors in which three civilians including two women were killed and 17 others injured.
“Repeated violation of ceasefire and frequent infiltration attempts by terrorists will be in top agenda of the meeting between heads of border guards,’’ sources said, adding that India will strongly take up with the Rangers the issue of facilitation of infiltration attempts by Pakistan under the cover of shelling and firing from across the border.
Indian delegation will give detailed written documents to the Rangers mentioning number of ceasefire violations, civilians killed and injured and extensive damage caused to property in Pakistan shelling. A detailed document has already gone to the BSF Headquarters in New Delhi from the Jammu Frontiers and some more documents will be sent in the remaining period to expose Pakistani Rangers in the meeting.
“The agenda for the meeting has been exchanged by the two sides. From Indian side, we will raise the issue of repeated ceasefire violation and frequent infiltration attempts by terrorists,” sources said.
Killings of civilians living along the border due to firing from Pakistan will be forcefully raised by the BSF. The Pakistan Rangers are also expected to raise the same issue as they have been claiming casualties on their side too.
BSF is keen to take up the issue of infiltration of terrorists from Pakistan, with the particular case being the recent one in which the infiltrators struck in Gurdaspur and Udhampur. In both terror attacks, the militants have been confirmed as Pakistani nationals with one of them Mohammad Naved Yaqub having been captured alive by the people after attack on BSF at Narsu, Samroli in Udhampur district on Jammu-Srinagar National Highway.
The Indian side will also take up the issue of smuggling of Fake Indian Currency Notes and drugs as also unauthorized construction of defence infrastructure, sources said.
Confirmation by Pakistan for the DG-level talks comes despite it calling off the NSA talks a fortnight ago after India made it clear that Kashmiri separatist leaders would not be allowed to meet Pakistani NSA Sartaj Aziz during his visit here.
The decision on meeting of NSAs and heads of border guards was taken during talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif in Ufa, Russia, on July 10.
Pakistan Rangers have also listed 17 points in their agenda for the upcoming DG level talks, sources said.
Sources said the points listed by Pakistan include killings of innocent civilians due to cross-border firing, issues with working boundary at the International Border and alleged illegal construction on the Indian side.
The Indian side planned to propose increased level of communication between the two border guarding forces, sources said. Both sides also plan to take up the burning of elephant grass which acts as a hindrance to patrolling and helps the militants trying to cross over to India.
Pakistan has proposed to set up a mechanism for the return of its citizens who inadvertently cross the border and get arrested by the BSF.
Meanwhile, Pakistan army resorted to unprovoked firing on the forward Indian Army posts in Krishna Ghati sector in Poonch district at 10 pm last night. The Indian side retaliated effectively, leading to exchanges that lasted half an hour.
“Pakistan army used semi automatic and Heavy Machine Gun firing to target the Indian Army posts. However, there were no casualties or damage on the Indian side in the firing,’’ sources said.
It was after more than 10 days that Pakistan breached ceasefire agreement on the LoC.
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