ISLAMABAD: Indian troops resorted to firing along the Working Boundary on Friday, according to the ISPR, the military’s public relations wing.

It said the Rangers befittingly responded to the unpro­voked firing and there was no loss on Pakistan’s side.

Indian claims of hitting or killing any Pakistani soldier or Rangers by firing at any time during the day along the Line of Control (LoC) and the Working Boundary were false, the ISPR said.

According to our correspondent in Sialkot, India’s Border Security Force (BSF) resorted to unprovoked mortar shelling on villages in the Bajwat and Shakargarh sectors along the Sialkot Working Boundary.

Punjab Rangers officials said the shelling on Shakargarh villages began at 9am and continued for 30 minutes. In Bajwat, shelling with automatic weapons began at 2.30pm and lasted 15 minutes.

It was the first ceasefire violation on the Sialkot Working Boundary after several months.

A section of Indian media claimed that seven Pakistani Rangers lost their lives in retaliatory firing by BSF personnel in the Kathua area of India-held Kashmir. It claimed that the BSF neutralised a terrorist attempting to infiltrate the Indian side of the LoC.

The ISPR said Indian troops resorted to unprovoked firing across the LoC in the Karela sector in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

Pakistani troops responded to Indian fire in a befitting manner, it said.

According to the ISPR, the Indian forces yet again resorted to unprovoked firing in the Karela sector at 8.55pm and Pakistani troops were responding.

Published in Dawn, October 22nd, 2016