After Pak shelling, schools near LoC closed in Rajouri

Authorities in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir ordered to close down schools located near the Line of Control (LoC) after Pakistani troops opened fire and shelled forward posts and villages on Monday.

Reports said the firing and shelling from across the border started in Keri, Lam, Pukharni and Peer Badaser areas of Noushera sector in Rajouri at around 9.30 am. Which was going on intermittently till this report was filed. There was no immediate report of any casualty.

Deputy Commissioner, Rajouri, Mohammad Aijaz Assad said that all schools falling within five kilometres from the LoC in Keri and Lam areas have been closed as a precautionary measure.

In July last year, more than 100 students had got trapped inside two schools in Nowshera sector of Poonch after Pakistani troops violated ceasefire. The children had to be later rescued in bulletproof bunkers by the security forces.

The Indian and Pakistani armies had agreed on a ceasefire along the LoC, the international border (IB) and along Actual Ground Position Line at Siachen glacier in November 2003. Although it held good for 10-years, in the last few years, Pakistani troops have been violating the ceasefire agreement with higher frequency.

On Friday two Indian army officers were killed in a sniper fire by Pakistani army along the LoC in north Kashmir’s frontier Kupwara district. Earlier in November three Indian soldiers were killed due to sniper attack along the LoC south of Pir Panjal range. Just in first seven months of this year, 70 people, including civilians and security personnel, were killed and 232 people injured in 1,435 ceasefire violations by Pakistan.

There is 198 km IB and over 510 km of LoC with Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir.