While India-Pakistan relations were on a high in the past few weeks after Prime Minster Narendra Modi met with his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif, things have again begun to look grim as Pakistani forces opened fresh fire along the Line of Control, a day after two army jawans were killed in separate blasts along the border.
Friday's firing occurred in Poonch and Rajouri in Jammu and Kashmir, where Pakistani troops breached ceasefire with heavy firing and mortar shelling.
Defence ministry spokesman Lt Colonel Maneesh Mehta was quoted by The Indian Express saying Pakistani troops had started firing mortars and rockets on the Indian side around at 7.30 am on Friday, following which the Indian Army retaliated with an exchange of fire that continued for nearly half an hour.
While no casualties were reported, many of the mortar shellings fell in residential areas, according to the report.
The ceasefire violation along the LOC comes on a day when Modi had written to Sharif about improving bilateral relations in an atmosphere "free from confrontation and violence", as quoted by the Press Trust of India. The letter was a reply to Sharif's letter to Modi earlier this month.
On Friday, Army Chief General Bikram Singh had briefed Modi about the security situation in the country and the readiness of Indian troops.
Defence minister Arun Jaitley is slated to visit the state on Saturday for a two-day review, and the incident prompted Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to tweet about the timing of the attack.
Significant ceasefire violation in Rajouri & Poonch with reports of some shells having landed in civilian areas. Some livestock loss.
— Omar Abdullah (@abdullah_omar) June 13, 2014
Is it just a coincidence that the Defence Minister is visiting J&K, for his 1st visit, to review the security situation tomorrow? #ceasefire
— Omar Abdullah (@abdullah_omar) June 13, 2014
On Thursday, an army jawan was killed when an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) exploded near the LOC in Tarkundi area of Poonch. Three other jawans were left injured in the IED blast, which is reported to have been planted by terrorists.
Another jawan lost his life on the same day in a landmine blast in the region. Reports stated that an alert was sounded in the region following the two blasts and searches were launched to check for more explosives.
Similar incidents of ceasefire violations and killings were reported last month as well.
