The hotlines activated last year between the Border Security Force (BSF) and Pakistan Rangers have fallen silent as ceasefire violations along the crowded International Border in Jammu continued for the third consecutive day.
The border guarding forces of both countries have snapped any form of communication even as a BSF head constable and a six-year-old boy were among those killed in the current spell of cross-border firing.
On Monday, BSF termed the cross-border firing from Pakistan as “bizarre and unprovoked” as the targets were civilians.
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The official Twitter handle of BSF posted, “RS Pura sector in Jammu received unprecedented fire by Pakistani forces. It is unprovoked and completely bizarre as Pakistan firing is targeting civilians.”
After large scale ceasefire violations were reported in 2015, BSF and Pakistan Rangers had put in a system to resolve any flare-up on the IB by effective communication. At least 14 hotlines were activated along the Pakistan border from Gujarat to Jammu.
The system bore results. Post-talks, the ceasefire violations in the past one year came down to nine from 253 recorded till September 2015. Officials said that the situation took a turn for the worse from October 19 when constable Gurnam Singh was shot by a sniper and later died. “We were expecting retaliation post-September 29 surgical strikes. The sniper attack on our personnel was the tipping point,” said a senior BSF official.
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Home Minister Rajnath Singh, in Bahrain on an official visit, took stock of the situation and spoke over phone with Director General, BSF K.K Sharma.