India has lodged a protest with Pakistan over the firing of five rockets into Indian villages from Pakistan territory on Saturday, believed to be the handiwork of the Lashkar-e-Taiba. At a high-level meeting on Monday between the BSF and the Pakistan Rangers at the Attari outpost in Amritsar, India expressed serious concern at the second incident of firing of rockets from Pakistan in two months.
Four rockets had been fired from Pakistan in July too. Senior officials say the LeT was firing the rockets to spark tension along the Indo-Pak border. BSF DIG Mohammad Akil told his Pakistan Rangers counterpart Brig Kamran that Pakistan must take steps to flush out disruptive elements from close to the border.
The BSF DIG displayed some of the rocket shells to the Pakistan officials even as the latter sought to deny any such incident took place. The DIG said all five rockets were probably fired from the Pakistan side from 107mm multi-rocket launchers. The BSF has launched an intensive exercise to look for more shells. The splinters of rockets collected from Dhanoe Khurd, Modhe, Rattanpur and other villages have been handed over to the Punjab police for forensic examination.
“The 107mm rockets are normally used by the army in Pakistan, but it seems some terrorists have also been using them. In July, too, the same rockets were fired in the area. We’re investigating,” BSF DIG Jagir Singh said.
After the rocket attack, BSF troops fired from machine guns in retaliation into Pakistan. Officials said seven to eight machine gun bursts were fired from Indian territory. Villages in the area where the incident took place were tense on Saturday even after the BSF increased patrolling.
At the flag meeting at Attari, Commandant HS Dhillon led the BSF delegation and Wing Commander Akbar Bhatt the delegation of Pakistan Rangers.
