JAMMU/RAJOURI: After a gap of two days, Pak Army on Thursday evening started pounding forward villages in Pallanwala sector of Akhnoor forcing the local residents to stay indoors.
Late in the evening, Pakistan also resorted to firing and shelling at different places on the Line of Control (LoC) in Tarkundi, Panjgrian in Manjakot Sector of Rajouri
All those people who could manage to run away to safety vacated their houses fearing worsening of ground situation.
According to a TV reporter who was himself stranded in one of the forward villages in the area, “mortar shells were raining in the area”. The TV reporter said the situation is horrible in the area. Shells are landing few meters away, I am stranded in a house and heavy shelling going on from both the sides.”
According to local residents in the area intense shelling started at around 7.15 PM. He said Pak army is targeting several areas of Pallanwala sector. More than 12 villages were targeted by the Pak army.
Defence PRO Lt-Col Munish Mehta said, ‘unprovoked’ firing in Pallanwala sector started at around 7.15 PM and was going on till the time of filing the report’. He said Indian troops were giving them befitting reply using similar calibre of weapons. Earlier Pak army had violated ceasefire agreement on November 14 by targeting same sector using 120 mm mortar shells.
Meanwhile, DGP K Rajendra accompanied by IGP Danesh Rana and SP Rural Arun Gupta visited border areas of Jammu and took stock of the security situation in the forward areas affected by the Pak shelling. The officers of state police and BSF briefed DGP about the prevailing situation and security arrangements put in place for protection of the people and check suspicious movement. K Rajendra also visited Jhiri, where annual fair is going on and interacted with the visitors. He gave instructions to the local officers to make fool proof security arrangements so that the people visiting the venue do not face any inconvenience during the fair.
The Ministry of External Affairs called in a senior official of the Pakistan High Commission and made a demarche on the continued violation of ceasefire along the Line of Control, the ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said on Thursday.
This is the third such demarche this month.
“We conveyed that despite calls for restraint, Pakistan forces have committed twelve ceasefire violations between 9 and 15 November, 2016 during which Pakistan Army deliberately resorted to calibre escalation by employing artillery and 120 millimetre heavy mortars against Indian posts.
“These violent acts constitute a clear violation of the Ceasefire Agreement of 2003,” Sawrup said. A counsellor rank officer from the Pakistan High Commission was called in.
India has also conveyed its strong condemnation of the “increase in concentration of terrorists observed across the Line of Control in the vicinity of Pakistani forward posts.