Pakistani Ranger Detained By BSF Along India-Pakistan Border In Rajasthan

The Border Security Force (BSF) has taken into custody a Pakistani Ranger from along the international border in Rajasthan on Saturday (3 May), NDTV reported.

This comes in the wake of the Pakistan Rangers detained a BSF constable Purnam Kumar Sahu last week.

Constable Sahu was captured on 23 April after inadvertently crossing the international border while escorting farmers along the Ferozepur sector in Punjab.

The identity of the detained Pakistani Ranger remains undisclosed and he is currently being held by the BSF's Rajasthan Frontier.

While both countries have standard procedures for returning soldiers who accidentally cross the border, Pakistan continues to hold Sahu amid rising tensions, and India’s course of action regarding the captive Pakistani ranger also remains uncertain.

Just hours after the Pakistani Ranger’s detention, Pakistani Army posts opened unprovoked small fire arms fire across multiple LoC sectors for the tenth consecutive day on the intervening night of 3-4 May, including Kupwara, Baramulla, Poonch, Rajauri, Mendhar, Naushera, Sunderbani, and Akhnoor.

Indian Army units responded promptly and in a proportional manner to the unprovoked ceasefire violations by Pakistani troops.

This marked the most widespread ceasefire violation in recent days, with the maximum number of Pakistani posts participating simultaneously.

Despite several meetings to negotiate Sahu’s return, Pakistan has neither shared his current status nor agreed to a timeline.

Sahu, from the 182nd BSF battalion, served in the ‘Kisan Guard’—a unit assigned to protect Indian farmers cultivating land near the zero line.

He reportedly 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.

India has lodged a formal protest with Pakistan through the BSF, however, Islamabad's response has reportedly been “non-committal.”

Flag meetings at the sector level have failed to produce results, and Sahu is suspected to be held at a Rangers' facility near the Lahore-Amritsar axis.

The tensions between the two countries have been escalating after the 22 terror attack in J&K's Pahalgam in which 26 people, mostly tourists, were killed by Pakistan-linked terrorists.

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