JOIN USA Border Security Force (BSF) trooper was killed in a ceasefire violation by Pakistan along the International Border (IB) in the Samba district of Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday.
A police official said that the Pakistani army initiated unprovoked and indiscriminate firing during the intervening night of May 10 and 11 on the BSF Manguchak post in Samba. He said the BSF retaliated and the firing continued intermittently for several hours.
A BSF constable, Devinder Singh, was killed when he was hit by a bullet from the Pakistan side. On May 10, a 22-year-old civilian was killed in small arms firing by Pakistani forces along the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch district.
On March 18, in one of the worst ceasefire violations in recent years, five members of a family, including minors, were killed while two others were injured in Pakistani shelling in Balakote sector along the LoC in Poonch district.
Pakistan army has been violating ceasefire along the LoC and the International Border (IB) in Jammu & Kashmir frequently. Singh’s death took the number of people killed in over 700 incidents of Pakistani ceasefire violations along the IB and the LoC in the state to 33. The victims include 17 security personnel and 16 civilians.
The Indian and Pakistani armies had agreed on a ceasefire along the LoC, IB and along the Actual Ground Position Line at Siachen in November 2003.
Though it held good for 10-years, in the last few years, Pakistani troops have been violating the ceasefire agreement with higher frequency.
According to official figures, in 2017, the ceasefire was violated by Pakistan along the LoC 860 times and 111 times along the IB.
The highest number of such violations took place in 2002, when 8,376 incidents were reported, while 2,045 incidents of ceasefire violations were reported in 2003.