Pak captures BSF jawan swept away by Chenab

India called for a flag meeting with Pakistan after a Border Security Force (BSF) jawan was captured by Pakistani forces on Wednesday on being swept away by a strong current of the Chenab in Jammu and Kashmir. 

The BSF jawan was on a boat patrolling the Indo-Pak border. Satyasheel Yadav, attached with the water wing of the BSF, was out on a patrol with seven other personnel in two boats in the Paragwal-Khour sub-sector of Akhnoor along the Line of Control (LoC) when a technical snag hit one of the boats, sources said.

They were negotiating a narrow bend when the engine of one of the boats developed problems and later a rescue boat was sent to fetch Yadav and three others in the faulty boat. 

Three of them were rescued but Yadav drifted away as the rope holding him snapped and he landed 400 metres away in the Sialkot sector of Pakistan, where he was picked up by the Pakistani Rangers, sources said.

Immediately after the incident, India approached Pakistan for a flag meeting. “We are in touch with Pakistan Rangers and have sought a flag meeting. We are hopeful that our trooper will be handed back to us sooner than later,” BSF chief D K Pathak said.

A Pakistan Rangers official told PTI that a BSF jawan had entered Bajwaat sector, about 150 km from Lahore.

“We are interrogating him whether he crossed into our side inadvertently or he had any other design. We will also speak to the BSF officials,” the Pakistani official was quoted as saying. The flag meeting was convened late in the evening and Yadav was still in the custody of Pakistani Rangers.