BSF jawan, 4 civilians killed in Pakistan shelling in Jammu

SRINAGAR: A day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to visit Jammu & Kashmir to inaugurate several developmental projects, five people, including four civilians and a BSF jawan, were killed and over a dozen injured in firing on the border in RS Pura and Arnia sectors of Jammu in the w ee hours of Friday.

The killings also took place in the backdrop of central government’s decision not to initiate combat operations against militants in the holy month of Ramazan, which started from Thursday.

J&K chief minister Mehbooba Mufti regretted that Pakistan has shown no respect for Ramzan despite New Delhi’s decision of a ceasefire during the holy month. She reiterated that Pakistan has to reciprocate to this peace gesture.


“Continued firing on the border in Jammu is a cause of pain and worry.

Sad that while our country took the lead in starting peace initiatives with cessation of operations during Ramzan, Pakistan has shown no respect whatsoever for this holy month. Pakistan will have to reciprocate to this peace initiative.

My deepest condolences to the families of the victims,” Mufti said in a string of tweets.

The BSF constable who was killed has been identified as Sitaram Upadhyay, while the civilians were identified as Sat Pal, 60, Jag Mohan, 45, Tarsem Lal, 52, and Manjeet Kaur, 45.

As per official data of the home ministry, there have been over 860 ceasefire violations along the LoC and International Border in 2018 and most of the incidents have occurred in the Jammu region. In 2017, as per official data, 860 and 111 such violations were reported on the LoC and IB, respectively, during which 12 civilians and 19 armed forces personnel were killed.

Pakistan claimed four civilians, including three children, were killed in firing along their side of the border on Friday. Foreign ministry of Pakistan in a presser on May 17 said that India carried out more than 1,000 ceasefire violations along the LoC and the working boundary, killing 24, civilians, while injuring 107 others. In 2017, Pakistan claimed Indian forces committed 1,970 ceasefire violations.