Indian troops target school van in AJK

Driver martyred, 10 students injured; three students in critical condition; Indian deputy high commissioner summoned to Foreign Office; strong protest lodged

RAWALPINDI: One civilian embraced Shahadat and four schoolchildren were injured when the Indian troops violating the ceasefire sanctity targeted an AJK school van at the Line of Control (LoC) in the Nakial sector on Friday morning.

According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), Pakistani troops effectively responded and targeted the Indian posts from where the fire was coming. The condition of three of the injured students was stated to be critical. The civilian who embraced Shahadat was the driver of the school van. 

Pakistan conveyed to New Delhi on Friday that deliberate targeting of civilians, villages and civilian transport and a school van was condemnable. The move came on the same day when Pakistan was mourning the deadly attack on Peshawar’s Army Public School two years ago, when India had the audacity to violate the 2003 ceasefire agreement and firing a shell at a school van at the LoC, which claimed the life of the driver and injured four school children.

Media reports spoke of a school van belonging to an NGO “Muslims Hands International”, which saw the driver, Asad, killed on the spot as the van came under heavy Indian fire. The violation at the LoC comes after a relatively long lull, when guns appeared to have been silenced after some of the most deadly attacks since 2003.

Immediately after the ISPR tweeted the news, saying that Pakistani troops effectively fired back at the posts from where the firing commenced, Director General (SA&Saarc) Dr Muhammad Faisal at the Foreign Office summoned the Indian Deputy High Commissioner JP Singh.

“Pakistan strongly condemned the unprovoked ceasefire violations and targeting of a school van by the Indian occupation forces on the LoC in the Nakial sector,” spokesman at the Foreign Office said in a statement.

JP Singh was clearly told that the deliberate targeting of civilians, villages and civilian
transport and a school van was condemnable and contrary to human dignity as well as international human rights and humanitarian laws.

The director general urged the Indian side to respect the 2003 ceasefire understanding, investigate the incident and other incidents of ceasefire violations, instruct the Indian forces to respect the ceasefire in letter and spirit, stop targeting the villages and civilians and maintain peace on the LoC.

Pakistan last month had proposed to the Indian government through its High Commissioner Abdul Basit that both sides should seriously make the ad hoc 2003 ceasefire understanding into a formal agreement.

New Delhi has chosen to ignore the proposal. Meanwhile, a former Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) chief Amarjit Singh Dulat, who is known for his deep understanding of the Kashmir issue, told the Kashmiri media on Friday, "We should think how we can have a ceasefire like that of 2003, how to revive that. We should focus our attention on talks and a ceasefire on the borders."