Soldiers pay tribute to the five Army jawans at Palam airport in New Delhi.
In yet another ceasefire violation by Pakistan, its troops fired on Indian Army posts in Kanachak sector of Jammu and Kashmir today. According to reports, a jawan from the Border Security Force (BSF) was injured in the firing.
"There was sniper firing from Pakistani side this morning along the international border (IB) at Alfa Machial Border Out Post (BOP) area in Jammu frontier ," a senior BSF officer said.
This is the third case of ceasefire violation by Pakistan in less than a week. On the intervening night between Monday and Tuesday, Pakistani troops ambushed a patrol party of the Indian Army, killing five soldiers, and injuring one in the Poonch sector, 200 km south of Srinagar. Yesterday, both sides exchanged fire for around seven hours.
"Pakistan fired over 7000 rounds of heavy ammunition besides mortar shells on Indian posts during the seven-and-a-half-hour firing in Poonch," a Defence spokesperson said yesterday, adding that it was "biggest ceasefire violation" in recent times. No causalities were however reported.
The killing of the five Indian soldiers created a huge uproar in Parliament with Defence Minister AK Antony, in a second statement, stating the attacks were carried out by specialised troops from Pakistan. His first statement absolved the Pakistani army, saying the attack was carried out by militants. His statement was in contradiction with the one issued by the Defence Ministry, leading to widespread criticism, especially by the opposition, the BJP.