Children and women move to safer places on a tractor after shelling from the Pakistani side in Samba district
There was a sharp decline in firing from Pakistan along the 200 km International Border in Jammu and Kashmir on Friday, a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and others in his government took a tough stand, warning Pakistan that it would pay an "unaffordable price for its adventurism".
As many as 20,000 people have been displaced in Pakistan by robust Indian response to the firing, said sources. Eight people have been killed and over 60 injured in heavy firing and shelling by Pakistani troops this week, in the worst violence at the border in a decade.
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Many posts and fortifications on Pakistani side have been destroyed by firing by Indian soldiers, said sources, adding that the intensity of firing is expected to subside further. But, they said, India will let some more time elapse before initiating any move to talk or even respond to any possible overtures from Pakistan.
Pakistani troops fired at four Indian outposts in Jammu and Kashmir late on Thursday night. Sources in the Border Security Force, however, said it was too early to call it "de-escalation".
Sources also said there is no decision on resuming flag meetings at the border. Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had said in an interview to NDTV that these meetings were necessary to defuse tension and bring the 2003 ceasefire between the two countries back on track.
The Chief Minister said the intense firing from Pakistan had targeted mainly homes near the border. 'Large towns are being deliberately targeted. There seems to be concerted effort to attack civilians," he told NDTV.
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is expected to meet top military officers today to discuss the border violence. Pakistan's Defence Minister Khwaja Asif said, "We don't want to convert border tension between two nuclear neighbors into confrontation".
Most villages along the International Border in Jammu, Samba and Kathua districts have been deserted since the shelling started on October 6. Thousands of villagers have fled their homes.
At an election rally in Maharashtra yesterday, PM Narendra Modi reiterated his government's tough stand on the confrontation. "Today, when bullets are being fired on the border, it is the enemy that is screaming. The enemy has realised that times have changed and their old habits will not be tolerated."
India has warned Pakistan that it is not afraid of escalating fire and the forces have been given a free hand to deal with the situation. "If Pakistan persists with this adventurism, our forces will make the cost of this adventurism unaffordable for it," said Defence Minister Arun Jaitley.
The fresh wave of hostilities started on Monday when six villagers were killed and 34 injured in Arnia in one of the worst attacks by Pakistan in years. Two women died in firing on Tuesday.
India has accused Pakistan of firing to distract its forces and help militants infiltrate into Kashmir. Indian army sources tell NDTV they believe nearly 700 militants are waiting to cross into the Kashmir Valley from across the border.
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