Pakistan goes on backfoot after BSF's Operation Arjun

After the BSF launched Operation Arjun following intermittent firing and ceasefire violations from across the border in Jammu region, Pakistani forces spoke to the Indian side and sought peace along the border, BSF Director General K.K. Sharma said here on Wednesday.

Speaking at an interaction with members of the Indian Association of Foreign Affairs Correspondents (IAFAC), Sharma said the Pakistani forces initiated firing around August 24-25 during which a BSF trooper lost his life.

"We retaliated by firing both flat trajectory and area weapons," he said referring to Operation Arjun.

"This went on and in that process another jawan of ours was sniped and he was martyred and one civilian lady was martyred," he said, adding that several BSF troopers and civilians were also injured.

He said that the BSF retaliated because that is what the Pakistani forces understood and in the process caused damage to men and material across the border.

The BSF guards the international border with Pakistan south of the Chenab while on the north, along the Line of Control (LoC), it works under the operational control of the Indian Army.

The BSF Director General said the Pakistani side keeps doing this periodically "but fortunately this time both sides talked to each other".

"I got a message from my counterpart, DG of Pakistan Rangers Punjab, that we should talk and I immediately responded and we talked to each other," he said.

"We both agreed that the killing of soldiers or civilians does not change the ground situation. We both agreed that civilian casualties are to be avoided and they regretted and we both decided to cease fire with immediate effect which we did."

Sharma talked with his Pakistani counterpart on September 23 and then again on September 25.

According to him, the Director General of Pakistan Rangers Punjab said their deployment was not such that they could cover all the points along the border,

"He felt that there could be some mischievous people or non-state players who may try to infiltrate," Sharma said.

--IANS

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