JAMMU, October 27: The sporadic exchange of gunfire between Pakistani Rangers and BSF personnel along the International Border in the Arnia and RS Pura sectors of Jammu district came to a halt early on Friday, according to officials.
Scores of families that had evacuated their homes in border hamlets following unprovoked firing by Pakistani Rangers are now returning to their residences.
During the cross-border firing targeting five Indian posts along the International Border (IB) on Thursday night, a Border Security Force (BSF) jawan and a civilian were injured. The BSF effectively retaliated against the firing.
A senior BSF officer stated, “The firing has stopped from across the border, and there is calm now.” He noted that the intermittent exchange of fire between the two sides continued until 3 am.
On Thursday night, two BSF personnel and a woman were injured and have been hospitalized. One jawan has been transferred to the GMC Hospital in Jammu. They were identified as Basavraj SR from Karnataka and Sher Singh, while the woman was identified as Rajni Bala of Arnia.
Pakistan Rangers had fired 82 and 120 mm mortar shells and used heavy machine guns, causing alarm among the border dwellers.
Several residents in Arnia, Treva, Suchetgarh, and Jabowal, especially migrant laborers, left the border hamlets when the unprovoked firing began on Thursday night. Many families sought refuge in bunkers, temples, and other secure locations in the border area.
Residents of border villages reported that they had not witnessed such intense firing and shelling in many years. “We were eating food when the firing began. We left the food and ran along with our families,” said Joginder Kumar, a laborer from Bihar.
Kumar, along with 51 others, including women and children, took shelter in a temple in Arnia after leaving a forward village due to shelling. He expressed his terror, saying, “We had heard about it (firing), and now we have seen it.”
In a forward hamlet where a mortar shell struck a house, Ekta Devi said, “By God’s grace, we were saved. There was a lot of firing until this morning. All the glass windows broke.”
Another villager, Rakesh Kumar, who, along with several villagers, had sought refuge in a bunker in a forward village, said they were now returning to their village. He remarked, “There was intense firing and shelling after many years. There was peace for the past two years. Pakistan cannot be trusted.”
Several videos circulated on social media, showing people fleeing their homes when the firing began. In Arnia, numerous guests left a wedding ceremony when the firing started. “We continued with the wedding. Most of the people left after the firing started,” said Kuldeep, a relative of the bridegroom.
This is the second ceasefire violation in October. On October 19, two BSF jawans were injured in firing by Pakistan Rangers at the Vikram post along the IB in the Arnia sector.
India and Pakistan had signed a ceasefire agreement on February 25, 2021, in which both nations agreed to strictly observe all agreements on ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir and other sectors.
