A day after two Border Security Force (BSF) jawans were injured in firing from across the border from Pakistan at Nikowal post in the Pargwal area of Jammu, the two sides held a flag meeting to review the situation even as firing took place again on Friday morning.
Inspector-General of the BSF Jammu frontier A.K. Saruliya told The Hindu that the situation was well under control. “We lodged a strong protest with them and they [the Pakistani side] as usual denied a hand in it.”
The Commandant of the BSF’s 32nd battalion posted in the area led the Indian side during the meeting. The situation, he said, had eased.
Mr. Saruliya said the incident was part of an infiltration attempt. “But we quickly retaliated and foiled the attempt.” He said Pakistan denied the presence of militants on its territory. To a question, the IG said there were no telltale marks of infiltrators as such, but added that “we are investigating the matter.”
Sources said firing took place again in the area. According to an unconfirmed report, at least four militants entered the area by cutting through the fence.
“The preliminary assessment points more to militants trying to infiltrate to this side,” an official said, pleading anonymity and refusing to divulge further details. He, however, said it could not be immediately ascertained whether the fence was cut. “It will be possible only after a closer look.” The BSF has intensified checking and patrolling in the area following the incident.
The border — both the Line of Control (LoC) and the International Border (IB) with Pakistan has been fenced by the Indian side to check infiltration but still many areas remain unplugged. The entire 220-km IB in the Jammu region as well as the 720-km LoC are fenced.
