Pakistani border guards opened fire at suspected liquor smugglers trying to enter from India, killing one and turning back two others, an official said on Wednesday.
The shooting occurred late on Tuesday close to Wagah, the main border crossing between India and Pakistan, near Lahore, said Afzaal Bhatti, an official with the Pakistan Rangers Punjab force, which guards the border in the area, state news agency APP reported.
Pakistani troops seized 56 bottles of booze, APP said. Liquor is illegal in predominantly Muslim Pakistan.
Bhatti accused Indian guards of letting smugglers sneak into Pakistan through the gates in the barbed-wire fence along the Indian side of the border, APP reported. The Pakistani side is not fenced, according to Bhatti.
Hundreds of Pakistanis and Indians, mostly farmers from border villages and fishermen, are caught on the wrong side of the long frontier each year. Bhatti said Pakistan arrests up to eight Indian smugglers every year.
On Monday, Pakistan freed 435 Indian prisoners and India released 148 Pakistanis. Many of them had been arrested and jailed for years for border violations. This exchange of prisoners at Wagah came amid efforts by the two countries to have friendly relations after decades of hostilities.
