- Pakistan suspends commander-level talks with India following killing of two Pakistan’ Rangers
- PM tells Sartaj Aziz to take up matter with Indian side
Pakistan on Thursday suspended sector commander-level talks with India following the killing of two Rangers personnel by the Indian forces.
According to Pakistani Rangers spokesperson, the Pakistani troopers, Naik Riaz Shakar and Lance Naik Safdar, were called for a ‘flag meeting’ by a local commander of the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) and were killed as they reached the border in Shakargarh Sector.
The spokesperson also said that the Indian BSF was not even allowing them to get the injured officers back from the border.
However, according to the Indian media, at least four Pakistani Rangers personnel were killed in Wednesday’s LoC ceasefire violation.
“We have retaliated effectively. Four Pakistani Rangers have been killed along the International Border in Samba sector this evening,” said BSF Inspector General for the Jammu Frontier Rakesh Sharma.
Wednesday’s incident, on the international border in Jammu and Kashmir, followed the killing earlier in the day of an Indian border guard, a senior officer from India’s BSF said claimed.
“As Pakistani Rangers suffered casualties, they waved white flags, asking BSF to stop the firing so that they can lift the bodies of the dead men. We stopped the firing after their request,” Sharma said.
Nonetheless, the incident has been widely condemned and seen as serious violation of the military protocols by the Indian side.
In this regard, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif Thursday directed his Adviser on Foreign Affairs and National Security Sartaj Aziz to take up the issue of border ceasefire violations with the Indian government.
Undeterred, Indian BSF Thursday once again resorted to unprovoked fire at the Line of Control (LoC) in Shakargarh Sector also targeting Bhoore Chak and Sambrial check posts while Chenab Rangers retaliated befittingly.
According to Rangers’ sources, Indian forces resorted to intermittent firing throughout the night and the Rangers gave an apt response.
Sources affirmed that heavy weapons were also employed from both the sides in addition to firing mortar shells whereas no life loss was reported.
