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India accuses Pakistan of disrupting border fencing |
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India accused Pakistan of trying to disrupt the fencing of the border in Jammu and Kashmir after a series of blasts along the frontier on April 18. An External Affairs Ministry spokesperson blamed Islamabad for the explosions that took place near sites where the fencing work is in progress.
“This effort of the military regime in Pakistan to raise concern and retard the fencing work will fail just as surely as other such efforts have failed in the past,” the spokesperson said.
More than 60 landmine explosions occurred along the international border in the Arnia sector of Jammu and Kashmir, about 40 km from Jammu. Police described it as an attempt to disrupt work on fencing the frontier.
The blasts were seen as an attempt to disrupt the construction of the fence, an effective mechanism against cross-border infiltration of terrorists and smugglers. There were no reports of any damage or loss of life or injury in the explosions. Explosives were planted by the Pakistanis in pits dug on the Indian side between the Chinaz and Pittal posts in the Arnia sector as part of the border-fencing project. The pits have been dug within 5-10 metres of the zero line on the border.
The Pakistanis had employed similar tactics in the past to disrupt work on the fence. The Border Security Force is erecting the fence along a 185 km stretch of the border to prevent infiltration of militants, arms and drugs from Pakistan.
Pakistan opposes this, saying the border is disputed, as is the 742-km long Line of Control (LoC) that divides the rest of Jammu and Kashmir between India and Pakistan.
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