Wagah:
Amid escalating hostilities at the border, Pakistani soldiers today refused to accept sweets from their Indian counterparts on the occasion of Eid at the Wagah border.
Officials of the Border Security Force said that a message to the Pakistan Rangers for the annual exchange of Eid greetings did not meet with a response.
"We give sweets on Eid every time. The Rangers have not accepted it today. We always want to maintain peace and tranquillity on the border," said MF Farooqui, Deputy Inspector General, BSF.
The BSF and the Pakistan Rangers have been following a tradition of exchanging sweets on festivals at the International Border in Jammu and along the Attari-Wagah border in Amritsar in Punjab.
On Thursday, India warned of an "effective and forceful response" following a series of ceasefire violations along the border in Jammu and Kashmir. A woman was killed earlier this week and nine others, including two soldiers, were also injured in separate incidents of heavy firing from across the border in Akhnoor and RS Pura sectors in the state.
India's stern response came after New Delhi and Islamabad lodged protests against each other over border firing and Pakistan's claim that it had shot down an Indian "spy drone," which has been rubbished by New Delhi.
Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar rejected any link to India, saying the drones appeared to be a "commercially available" Chinese design.
Last week, a long chill between the two countries was thawed in Ufa, Russia, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif met on the sidelines of a regional summit.
As part of breakthrough announcements after the talks, the two countries decided to arrange meetings of senior military officials to reduce tension along the border.