One more civilian dies in Pak firing in J&K, 3 injured

Srinagar: As guns continue to roar along the borders with Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir, one more person was killed and three others wounded on Monday, raising the death toll in days of active hostilities between the facing troops to 20.

Most of the deaths have taken place in mortar gunfire by the Pakistani Rangers and the Army along the International Border (IB) and the Line of Control (LoC) in J&K’s Kathua, Samba, Jammu, Rajouri and Poonch districts.

Among the slain were eight civilians, three Army jawans and two of their counterparts from the BSF. More than three dozen people, most of the civilians, have been injured, dozens of residential houses damaged and over 200 cattle perished in the Pakistani firing and shelling since Wednesday night, the officials said.

Thousands of villagers have fled their homes falling in close proximity to the IB and the LoC and relocated to safer locations.

The Pakistan authorities have, so far, reported the death of seven civilians and injuries to 17 people on their side of the borders in the alleged Indian firing.

The flare-up has prompted various political parties and civil society grounds on both sides to issue appeals for restraint to the facing armies and border guards.

They have also urged New Delhi and Islamabad to resume dialogue to address their disputes and other contentious issues amicably

The officials in Jammu said that after a brief lull, the Pakistani troops resorted to “unprovoked” firing and shelling at several places along the LoC on Sunday evening.

“The intermittent firing continued throughout the night and Monday morning. Our forces retaliated strongly and effectively using the same calibre fire,” said one of the officials.

Jammu’s additional deputy commissioner Arun Manhas said that the damage to residential houses and other private properties in the border-belt in the days of mortar shelling from across the borders is “huge”.