New Delhi: The Border Security Force (BSF) shot dead one intruder from Pakistan in the early hours of Thursday, along the international border in Punjab, The Print has learnt.
The incident occurred around 2.30 am near the Lakha Singh Wala border outpost (BOP) in the Mamdot block, Ferozepur sector, sources in the BSF told ThePrint.
“An intruder was attempting to infiltrate the border when BSF jawans deployed there spotted him and warned him to stop. In his defiance of the warning, a BSF jawan shot him dead,” a BSF official said. His body has been handed over to the Ferozepur district police for further proceedings according to established procedures, sources further said.
Hours later, the BSF announced a blanket ban on the entry of the public at all joint checkposts, such as Attari, for safety. The decision to cancel all ceremonies at joint checkposts will also continue till further orders, an official at BSF Punjab Frontier said.
This comes after India launched Operation Sindoor, carrying out precision strikes on terrorist infrastructure across Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) as a response to the deadly attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, on 22 April.
The strikes, carried out by teams of the Indian Air Force and the Indian Army, targeted the camps of Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed in Muridke and Bahawalpur, respectively.
A BSF personnel, identified as Purnam Kumar Shaw, was taken into custody by the Pakistan Rangers range in the same Ferozepur sector last month. Shaw, while leading a party of farmers who cultivate crops on either side of the border, inadvertently crossed the border.
Attempts to secure Shaw’s release by BSF field officials of the Commandant rank have not been successful so far, and sources said that the current confrontation between India and Pakistan has further complicated the efforts.
Separately, BSF, media reports said, arrested one Pakistan Ranger personnel in the Sriganganagar sector in Rajasthan Saturday, and one Pakistan national in Gurdaspur sector in Punjab Monday.
(Edited by Sanya Mathur)
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