http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/india-has-shown-it-wont-hesitate-to-cross-border-says-rajnath-singh/article22485600.ece?homepage=true
Lucknow, January 21, 2018 17:46 IST
Updated: January 21, 2018 21:45 IST
The Home Minister's comments came days after Indian troops carried out retaliatory action against Pakistani troops.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday warned Pakistan that India can kill its enemies not only within its borders but also across, even as violence along the Jammu and Kashmir border continued to climb. Holding Pakistan responsible for the poor bilateral relations, Mr. Singh told a public gathering in Lucknow, “We want to maintain good relations with our neighbour but they don’t stop doing mischief. We have given a strong message to the world that India can kill its enemies not only on this side, but on that side of the border as well.”
Retaliatory action
His comments came days after Indian troops carried out retaliatory action against Pakistani troops, in which seven of their soldiers were killed and four injured in Poonch. Mr. Singh saif that a few months ago, Pakistan attacked and martyred 17 Indian jawans.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi consulted all of us on this serious issue, and the Indian Army entered the Pakistani area and killed the militants,” the Home Minister said.
Meanwhile, concern is rising across the security establishment over the worsening situation along the Indo-Pakistan border, where casualties from cross-border firing have now climbed beyond all recent trends.
“There seems to be no strategy at all. The situation is getting out of hand, ceasefire is as good as it is over,” a former intelligence agency chief said, as yet another soldier was killed along the border.
The Army said Signalman Chandan Kumar Rai was grievously injured in Mendhar sector along the Line of Control on Saturday, and he succumbed to his injuries on Sunday. It said Pakistani Army initiated “unprovoked and indiscriminate firing of mortars, small arms and automatics” from 4.20 p.m. on Saturday.
The Pakistan Foreign Office meanwhile summoned Indian deputy high commissioner J.P. Singh to Islamabad and condemned the “unprovoked ceasefire violations” by Indian troops.
It said 18 Indian posts resorted to “unprovoked firing with mortars and heavy weapons”, resulting in the death of two civilians on its side, and injury to a few others.
“The repeated ceasefire violations by India are a threat to regional peace and security and may lead to a strategic miscalculation,” Pakistan warned.
Worsening situation
The situation along the border continued to be volatile for the fourth day on Sunday, with 11 people dead and at least 15 people including two security personnel injured in Pakistani firing in January. In 2017, the region saw 12 deaths.
Over 20,000 people living in border villages have been shifted to safer localities because of the continuing firing along the border. Nearly 500 schools within five kilometres of the border in Jammu region have also been shut down for the next three days.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/nation...uri-akhnoor/article22486005.ece?homepage=true
Pakistan troops violated ceasefire for the fourth consecutive day on Sunday by resorting to heavy shelling along the Line of Control (LoC) in Noushera, Rajouri and Akhnoor sectors of Jammu and Kashmir.
Meanwhile, an Army jawan, injured in Pakistani shelling, succumbed to injuries on Saturday night, raising the death toll in the border firing since Thursday to 11, police said.
“Pakistan has resumed heavy shelling along LoC in Bhawani, Karali, Said, Numb and Sher Makri areas of Rajouri district this evening,” DC (Rajouri) Shahid Iqbal Choudhary said.
In Akhnoor, Pakistan resorted to firing along the LoC, police officials said. Indian troops were retaliating, they said.
Sepoy C.K. Roy, posted in a forward post in Mankote sector of Poonch district, was injured in Pakistani firing on January 20 and succumbed to injuries at a military hospital on Saturday night, a police official said.
His death raised the number of persons killed in the Pakistani firing along the Line of Control (LoC) and International Border (IB) in the five districts of Jammu, Kathua, Samba, Poonch and Rajouri since Thursday to 11.
The dead include six civilians, three Armymen and two BSF personnel.
A BSF jawan and a teenaged girl were killed on Thursday while four persons — two civilians and a BSF and an Army jawan — were killed and over 40 others, including two BSF personnel, injured in the Pakistani firing on January 19.
Three civilians and an Army jawan were killed and 16 others injured in the ceasefire violations on January 20.
There was no report of firing by Pakistan along the international border in Jammu, Kathua and Samba districts on Saturday night, BSF and police officials said.
“The International Border was almost calm except a few rounds of shelling in Arnia sector last night,” a BSF spokesman said.
He said the firing from across the border stopped in Samba and Kathua districts in the afternoon but intermittently went on in some areas of Jammu district.
The last few mortar shells landed in Arnia sector around 10 p.m. on January 20 without causing any damage. There was no report of Pakistani firing from anywhere during the night, he said.
A police official said barring Shahpur sector, the LoC in the twin districts of Poonch and Rajouri also remained calm as there was no major ceasefire violation by Pakistan since Saturday evening till Sunday evening.
Small arms firing from across the border was, however, reported from Shahpur sector of Poonch for a few hours till 4 a.m., but there was no casualty, he said.
He said the authorities are keeping a close eye on the situation and rushed police teams to affected areas to ensure prompt assistance to the people.
People were asked to stay indoors and not to touch any suspicious object as it could be an unexploded mortar shell, he said. The firing has forced thousands of people to flee their homes and take shelter in rehabilitation camps or with their relatives.
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http://www.deccanherald.com/content/655066/border-hamlets-deserted-over-40k.html
Border hamlets deserted as over 40K people escape Pak shelling
Press Trust of India, R S Pura (Jammu), Jan 21 2018, 14:21 IST
Villagers being evacuated by the Jammu and Kashmir Police personnel after heavy shelling by Pakistani forces on the border at Kanachak village, in Jammu on Saturday. PTI
The bustling settlement of Arnia and a chain of border hamlets along the Indo-Pak border now wear an empty look, with over 40,000 villagers abandoning their homes to escape heavy shelling by Pakistani forces.
Arnia town, with a population of 18,000, resembles a ghost town with only a few people left each in its adjoining hamlets to take care of animals and guard homes.
Farming, schooling, cattle rearing and everything else on which border dwellers survive has come to a halt due to the shelling episodes.
Villagers at the forefront of Pakistani shelling say they feel they are in a war zone with sounds of mortar bombs and rattle of automatic weapons booming in the area.
In the hamlets, the devastation is visible all around - blood stains on the floor, broken windows, injured animals and splinter marks on the walls.
Dressed in battle fatigues and bulletproof jackets, jawans of the Border Security Forces criss-cross through borderline hamlets and paddy fields to take a position to give a befitting retaliation.
Some families that had initially decided to hold on to their homes have finally decided to move after intense shelling.
Night after night, 80-year-old Yashpal, and his family huddled together under a bed in one corner of their room as soon as the shelling started.
After heavy cross-border shelling for over two days, the family finally decided to leave their home along the India- Pakistan border on Saturday.
On Friday night, the situation got worse and two shells hit our house and damaged it, he said.
"It had happened during the 1965 and the 1971 wars.Such large number of mortar bombs had not since fallen in Arnia," he said.
"Arnia town has been vacated. We have evacuated a large number of people from Arnia and border hamlets...Most of the hamlets are now vacated," said Surinder Choduhary Sub Divisional Police Officer (SDPO), R S Pura.
Choudhary, who led the police from the front in carrying out the massive evacuation of the border population from R S Pura and Arnia sectors, said houses and cattle have bore the brunt of the shelling.
Deputy Commissioner Jammu, Kumar Rajeev Ranjan said 58 villages in Arnia and Suchetgarh sectors of Jammu district have been affected due to the shelling by Pakistan.
"Over 36,000 border dwellers have migrated from their homes", the DC said and added that 131 animals have been killed, 93 injured besides damage caused to 74 buildings and houses.
While most of the border dwellers are living with their relatives, over 1000 are camped in boarding and lodging places set up by the government in schools.
In Samba and Ramgarh sectors of Samba district, over 5000 people have migrated besides over 3,000 from Hiranagar sector of Kathua district.
Hundreds of grass houses (kullas) have also been gutted and bovines killed in fire triggered by bursting of mortar bombs fired by Pakistan troops in Jeora farm, popularly known as "hamlet of milkmen".
The hamlet houses over 100 families and is famous for supplying milk and other milk products to Jammu.
"Over 150 kullas have been gutted in the fire and several animals have perished in the fire triggered by Pakistan shelling", Choudhary, who himself led the rescue operation, said.
Arnia dweller Asha Rani, who fled her house along with her family of five in a bullock cart, said "People have not seen such intense firing and shelling even in the 1965 and 1971 wars. Pakistan was solely shelling us (civilians) in Arnia".
It is also for the first time that shells fired by Pakistan exploded in Gajansoo town, killing a 25-years-old.
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http://indianexpress.com/article/india/two-injured-in-pakistan-unprovoked-firing-along-loc-5033891/
The injured have been identified as Ram Dass and Gopal Dass, both brothers. They sustained splinter injuries following mortar shelling which started in Kanachak area around 9.30 pm. Both were rushed to the hospital
Two people were injured as Pakistani Rangers and their regular troops, after a brief lull of nearly 24 hours, re-started unprovoked mortar shelling and small arms fire along the international border in Kanachak and Pargwal sectors in Jammu, besides Line of Control in Nowshera area of Rajouri district on Sunday evening.
The injured have been identified as Ram Dass and Gopal Dass, both brothers. They sustained splinter injuries following mortar shelling which started in Kanachak area around 9.30 pm. Both were rushed to the hospital.
BSF sources confirmed shelling in Ganjansoo, Golepattan, New Kanachak and Old Kanachak areas, besides Pargwal, saying they few mortar shells were fired from across the border. In the morning, a few rounds/shells were also fired by Rangers in Arnia area.
Along rest of the international border from Kanachak to R S Pura, Arnia, Ramgarh, Samba and Kathua, a tenuous calm prevailed since Saturday evening.
Pakistani troops also restarted mortar shelling in Nowshera started around 5 pm and in next two hours, its intensity increased in Jhangar, Laam, Kalsiyan and Kalal areas. The Indian troops were retaliating and the exchange of fire between the two sides was continuing till reports last came in.
