Jammu:
Pakistani troops have fired at 20 Indian posts along the International Border in Jammu and Kashmir, in a spike in attacks a week before foreign secretary level talks between the two countries.
Pakistan Rangers targeted posts of the Border Security Force (BSF) in the Arnia and RS Pura sectors and unprovoked shelling continued through the night, forcing Indian soldiers to retaliate. In the last 24 hours, this is the third violation of the 2003 ceasefire between the two countries.
There have been 10 such incidents in the past nine days. Yesterday, Pakistani troops used automatic and small arms in heavy firing along the International Border and Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Poonch districts.
The spurt in border attacks has cast a shadow on talks between Indian Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh and her Pakistani counterpart Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry on August 25. This is the first official dialogue between the two countries a year and a half after the beheading of an Indian jawan by Pakistani troops took diplomatic ties to a new low.
Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit's invitation to Kashmiri separatist groups for talks has also angered political parties.
The Pakistan High Commission often holds talks with separatists, but the timing of Mr Basit's invitation has not gone down well with the ruling BJP or the opposition Congress.
In a tweet, Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said, "Pak High Comm feting separatists, Pak Army intruding across the border, ISI attacking Indian Consulate in Herat, BJP govt sleeps. Ache Din Agaye (Good times)".
The decision to hold Foreign Secretary-level talks, with a new government in power in India, came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in an unprecedented diplomatic move, invited Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif along with other South Asian leaders to his swearing-in ceremony.
PM Modi also took a sharp departure from Independence Day speeches by his predecessors by not mentioning Pakistan at all in his extempore address to the nation on August 15, Friday.
Three days before that, however, on a visit to Jammu and Kashmir, Mr Modi had said that Pakistan, "has lost the strength to fight a conventional war, but continues to engage in the proxy war of terrorism."