After an interregnum of six months during which no bullets were shot and no mortars fired along the LoC, Pakistani side resumed it old game of firing and shelling at the border village of Shahpur in the border district of Poonch in Jammu region. On 21 September last, Brigade Commanders of India and Pakistan in the area had met and signed an agreement of not indulging in unprovoked firing along the LoC. This agreement survived during past six months and in fact some people wondered how come that Pakistan is honouring her commitment. Thus with this violation of the agreed policy, Pakistan is back in square one. How long will this revived spree of firing and shelling go, is anybody’s guess.
At about 11.45 PM on the night of 9 April, Pakistani troops opened 82 mm mortar shelling and targeted the border village of Shahpur. The mortar shells were pinpointed at the houses and six of them have been destroyed and razed to the ground. However, we learn that Indian security forces have retaliated adequately to the unprovoked firing from across the border and firing and shelling continued till 4.40 in the morning. No further firing has been reported from the sector so far.
There is always a method in the madness of Pakistani troops in breaking the agreement and resorting to firing across the LoC or the International Border in Kashmir. Only four days ago, Pakistani envoy in New Delhi had told a press conference that Pakistan had suspended bilateral talks. The practice with Pakistan is that whenever Indo-Pak talks show signs of progress, Pakistan army and ISI embark on one or the other activity that derails the process of bilateral talks. The reason is that Pakistan army maintains its hegemony over the administrative structure in Pakistan by keeping the Kashmir pot simmering. In the name of Kashmir, Pakistan army manage to grab a major chunk of country’s budget and then the higher echelons of Pakistan army are free to share the spoils. If Kashmir issue is resolved, Pakistan army has no justification to demand the lion’s share in the budget nor shall it be enjoying a position of power in the ruling structure of Pakistan. The unscheduled visit of Prime Minister Modi to Pak Prime Minister in Lahore was a big irritant to the Pakistani army and they wanted to ensure that the two leaders are not able to maintain their cordiality and earnestness to solve Kashmir issue. Sabotaging process began with the attack by ISI-sponsored JeM fidayeen on Pathankot air base. When that plan failed to inflict heavy loss to the assets of the air force, Pakistan manipulated another conspiracy of arresting an Indian national on the allegation of espionage in Baluchistan. India refuted the allegation as cooked up. ISI had even tried to involve Iran in the so-called espionage matter. Pakistan gave media hype to the fabricated story of Indian espionage but the world community knew that this was only a plant to sabotage the progressing bilateral talks between the two countries and took no cognizance of what Pakistan was claiming.
As frustration gripped ISI, and finding that none of its conspiracies was yielding the desired result, it finally resorted to the last option of sabotaging the talks. Only four day go, Pakistani envoy in New Delhi told a press conference that Pakistan had suspended the process of talks with India. It will be reminded that Pakistan was very eager that bilateral talks should resume and even when Nawaz Sharif met American leaders they insisted that the two countries should resume talks.
The position, as we find, is that Pakistan army is embarrassed by the on-going track II talks between the civilian leadership of two countries. It took the step and announced discontinuation of bilateral dialogue. To reinforce the step, Pakistan has resorted to firing and shelling knowing that India would take a retaliatory action and thus talks would come to naught. In any case, let Islamabad and GHQ continue their internecine war and let us watch as spectators what dramatics they are performing. As far as firing and shelling is concerned, our security forces are responding adequately. We cannot rule out the possibility of Pakistani troops firing and shelling more villages on our side of the line. A significant aspect of Shahpur Poonch firing and shelling is that Pakistan targeted the precise houses of villagers who had to take shelter in bunkers and leave their homes which were razed to the ground by shelling.
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