Srinagar:
The Border Security Force (BSF) has taken into custody a Pakistani Ranger from along the international border in Rajasthan on Saturday. The development follows the detention of BSF constable Purnam Kumar Sahu by the Pakistan Rangers. Mr Sahu was apprehended on April 23 after he inadvertently crossed the international border while escorting farmers along the Ferozepur sector in Punjab.
The apprehended Pakistani Ranger, whose identity is yet to be disclosed, is currently in the custody of the BSF’s Rajasthan Frontier.
India and Pakistan have a well-established procedure to return BSF jawans who accidentally cross the border but considering the heightened tensions, Pakistan has held on to Mr Sahu, and it remains unclear what India will do with the captive Pakistani ranger.
Hours after the Ranger’s detention, Pakistani Army posts opened unprovoked small arms fire along the Line of Control (LoC) in multiple sectors for the tenth consecutive day on the intervening night of May 3-4, including Kupwara, Baramulla, Poonch, Rajauri, Mendhar, Naushera, Sunderbani, and Akhnoor. Indian Army units responded promptly and in proportion, according to military sources.
This marked the most widespread ceasefire violation in recent days, with the maximum number of Pakistani posts participating simultaneously. No deaths have been reported so far.
Multiple meetings have been held to secure Mr Sahu’s release, but the Pakistani side has not committed to a timeline or even confirmed his current status.
Mr Sahu, deployed with the 182nd BSF battalion, was part of the ‘Kisan Guard’, a unit assigned to protect Indian farmers cultivating land near the zero line. He misjudged the border alignment and stepped into Pakistani territory to rest under a tree, where he was picked up by the Pakistani Rangers. The BSF maintains that such inadvertent crossings have historically been resolved swiftly through standard operating procedures and mutual coordination. However, this time, the Pakistani side has shown no willingness to reciprocate.
The government has filed a formal protest with Pakistan through the BSF, but senior officials say the response has been “non-committal.” Sector-level flag meetings have so far yielded no breakthrough. Mr Sahu is believed to have been moved to a Pakistan Rangers’ facility along the Lahore-Amritsar axis.
The soldier’s wife, Rajani, who is pregnant, travelled from Rishra in West Bengal’s Hooghly district to Punjab earlier this week. Arriving at Chandigarh airport with their son and other family members, she met senior officers of Mr Sahu’s unit in Ferozepur.
The mounting tensions between the two countries are set against the backdrop of the deadly April 22 terror attack in the popular tourist destination of Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir left 26 people dead, most of them holidaying civilians. India has accused Pakistan of aiding its homegrown terrorists in carrying out this cross-border attack. A group linked to the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba terror group has been linked to the Pahalgam massacre.
India has also undertaken a series of punitive measures against Pakistan. These include the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty, closure of the Attari-Wagah land border crossing, withdrawal of diplomatic personnel, and a ban on imports from Pakistan. Postal exchanges and port access for Pakistani-flagged vessels have also been terminated.
Adding to the tensions, the Pakistan military conducted a test launch of its Abdali surface-to-surface ballistic missile on Saturday. Indian officials described the move as “blatant provocation.” The Abdali missile has a range of 450 km and was reportedly tested to validate technical parameters under “Exercise INDUS”.
