Exchange of fire between Indian and Pakistani forces on the Line of Control and the International Boundary has rendered(प्रदान की गई है) the 2003 ceasefire ever more fragile(नाज़ुक). On October 29, the Army said it had destroyed four Pakistani posts in Keran sector along the LoC and inflicted(दण्ड देना) heavy casualties. This came a day after Sepoy Mandeep Singh was killed in the Machhal sector and his body mutilated(क्षत-विक्षत) by a terrorist who fled across the LoC thereafter. In a social media post, the Army’s Northern Command had warned that the atrocity(क्रूरता) would invite an appropriate response, and the reprisal(प्रतिशोध) followed. This represents a major escalation in the ongoing exchange of fire. Ceasefire violations have become a daily occurrence since the terrorist attack on the Army camp in Uri in September and the subsequent “surgical strikes” by the Army. The use of 82 and 120 mm mortars in addition to small arms and light machine guns has become routine, a significant scale-up during peacetime. The firing has also spread to the IB, especially a 192-km stretch in Jammu that Pakistan refers to as the working boundary. In 2014, about 430 incidents of ceasefire violation were reported along the IB; in 2015 this dropped to 253. In contrast, till mid-October only four incidents had been reported along the IB — but that calm has been broken since the Uri attack. After the surgical strikes, there have been 60 ceasefire violations.
The brunt of these exchanges is borne(सेहन ) by the civilian population in the border villages. Hundreds have been shifted to shelters and bunkers for safety. The density of civilian settlement is much higher on the Indian side in comparison to Pakistan’s. As a result, the increased firing across the border creates more pressure on India. In fact, after the two countries agreed to a ceasefire in 2003, the resultant calm had won the confidence of local residents. Villagers began farming right up to the fence(घेरा), tourism picked up, and even informal border trade increased. The current spiral of violence threatens(धमकाना) this peace dividend. After the surgical strikes, the security forces retain a free hand in responding to infiltrations and instances of firing. No senior government functionary has publicly addressed the issue. Pakistan too is playing the incidents in large part on domestic considerations. However, the latest incident underscores the need for an urgent political initiative to prevent the cycle of brutality(निर्दयता) and reprisal from acquiring its own momentum, as happened in the early 2010s. It is time the government gathered the reins to address the issue politically and have peace restored on the border.
1)Rendered meaning is contribute, distribute, provide.
2)Fragile meaning is breakable, feeble, dainty.
3)Inflicted meaning is impose something, exact, expose.
4)Mutilated meaning is disfigured, mangled, dismembered.
5)Atrocity meaning is outrageous behavior, barbarity, enormity.
6)Reprisal meaning is revenge, retaliation, vengeance.
7)Borne meaning is carried, tolerated, endured.
8)Fence meaning is barricade, block, rail.
9)Threatens meaning is warn, pressure, intimidate.
10)Brutality meaning is cruelty, inhumanity, barbarism.
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