Tension grips LoC after Pakistan troops kill soldier, injure two others

Srinagar: Tension has gripped the Line of Control (LoC) after Pakistan army killed a soldier and injured two others when they resorted to heavy and unprovoked firing on Indian forward posts at Degwar area in the Poonch sector of Jammu division.

Lieutenant Colonel Devender Anand, defence spokesman at Jammu, said Pakistan army resorted to unprovoked ceasefire violation along the Line of Control in Poonch sector. “In the exchange of fire, Naik Rajeev Singh Shekhawat attained martyrdom”, he said.

Hailing from Luhakna Khurd village of district Jaipur in Rajasthan, 36 year old Naik Shekhawat is survived by his wife Usha Shekhawat.

“Naik Shekhawat was a brave and highly motivated soldier. The Nation will always remain indebted to him for his supreme sacrifice and devotion to duty”, he said.

Sources said Naik Shekhawat was killed when a forward post of the Army was hit in Pakistan’s artillery fire on Saturday. Indian army immediately swung into action and retaliated in equal measure to silence Pakistani guns.

On Sunday, Pakistan army opened new fronts and opened indiscriminate firing and shelling on the Indian forward positions in Balakot and Mendhar sectors of Poonch sector.

“At about 12.50 pm Pakistan resorted to small arms firing and mortar shelling in Balakot and Mendhar sectors. Indian army s retaliating befittingly”, said Lieutenant Colonel Anand.

Official figures reveal that there have been 3,289 ceasefire violations by the Pakistan Army along the Indo-Pak border in 2019. In 2018, Jammu and Kashmir had recorded 2,936 instances of ceasefire violations by Pakistan with an average of eight cases daily, in which 61 people were killed and over 250 injured.

The number of ceasefire violations by Pakistani troops was three times more then that of 2017 when 971 cases were reported. In 2017, 31 people — 12 civilians and 19 security forces personnel — were killed and 151 others suffered injuries.