By IANS
Jammu : A paramilitary Border Security Force (BSF) guard on the Line of Control (LoC) dividing the two parts of Kashmir in Poonch district was injured in firing from across the LoC Tuesday.
The injured trooper, Head Constable Naresh Kumar of 49 battalion of the BSF, has been shifted to hospital.
A BSF spokesman told reporters that it appeared to be firing by militants, but “the nature of the fire is being looked into”. He clarified that the firing was “not a violation of the ceasefire” effective on the LoC since Nov 26, 2003.
“It is not known whether the militants were infiltrating when they opened fire or they were across the LoC,” a BSF spokesman based in Jammu said.
The Indian Army and BSF jointly guard the 744-km LoC in Jammu and Kashmir, which divides the Indian and Pakistani parts of the state.
On May 26, an Indian Army soldier was killed in a similar shooting incident.
Prior to the ceasefire, there used to be regular exchange of fire between Indian and Pakistani troops. The Indian Army would accuse Pakistani troops of providing “cover fire” to militants. But that came to a complete halt since the ceasefire, also known as Id ceasefire.
Since then, there have been a few stray incidents of firing from across the LoC, but the Indian side did not retaliate. It claims that it is not a violation of the ceasefire, rather fire by militants trying to sneak into Indian territory from across the LoC.