Pak shells from crowded villages

In a tactical shift, Pakistani Rangers, who are now being assisted by Army regulars, have moved to densely populated villages along the border from where they are resorting to heavy shelling on Indian security forces.

Pakistan Rangers are taking full advantage of the fact that Indian security forces do not target civilian areas and have thus mixed with the villagers from where they are using heavy machine guns and 120mm mortar shells, normally used by the Pakistani Army, to target Indian border guarding forces. In the last few days, at least four Army and three BSF personnel have been killed in either cross border firing or by terrorists trying to infiltrate into Jammu and Kashmir.

Sources in the security establishment said they had identified at least 54 villages in sectors including R.S. Pura, Samba, Kathua, Mendhar and Tangdhar from where heavy shelling has been reported over the last few days. “We are absolutely certain that Pak Army regulars have now mixed with the Rangers and are indulging in this heavy firing whose intensity has increased in the last week or so. The 120 mortars being fired from across the border are normally used by the Pak Army rather than Rangers so this clearly shows Army’s involvement. But our security forces too are responding with equal force,” a senior security official said. In that last one week, Indian border forces have also killed at least 15 Pak Rangers and critically injured a Lt. Col. rank officer.

Indian security agencies are also resorting to technological assistance with which they can detect the exact location from where firing is being done to target them while avoiding the civilian areas. Sources said they were taking all precautions to ensure that no innocent civilian across the border becomes a victim of the firing even though the Pak Rangers were deliberately targeting Indian civilian areas.

Reports available with the security agencies also suggests that Pak Army has even moved heavy artillery and tanks close to the border areas though these have not been used so far. Intelligence inputs have also revealed that Pak Army has sent at least 15 battalions, each headed by a Colonel-level officers, to assist Pak Rangers.

“We are using technological surveillance to identify the exact location from where the Rangers are firing at us and then responding accordingly. But we have taken precaution not to hit Pak villagers unlike the firing from the other side,’’ the official added

Tension has been prevailing along the Indo-Pak border ever since militants attacked an Army camp at Uri killing 19 soldiers in whose retaliation Special Forces commandos carried out surgical strikes at terror launch pads across the Line of Control in PoK.

With home minster Rajnath Singh personally monitoring the situation at the border almost on a daily basis additional security forces have also been deployed in the region. The unprecedented firing by Pakistan is also being attributed to providing cover fire to help militants infiltrate into Kashmir Valley specially before the winter.