Indian aggression

The firing across the Line of Control from the Indian side of the divide has over the past five months already claimed scores of lives. It claimed one more     on Friday    when the driver of a school bus, taking children aged 10 to 15 years to a private school in the Nakial sector of Azad Kashmir was killed in firing from the Indian side of the divide. What is unforgivable is that the Indian troops targeted a school bus carrying children and wounded four of them. The shooting is also a violation of a ceasefire agreed upon by Islamabad and New Delhi in 2003 under which cross-border firing was barred. Pakistan’s repeated protests against the Indian action have led to no response. This was the case again, as once more the Indian high commissioner was summoned by the Foreign Office and warned about the continuous hail of bullets coming in from the Indian side. In November, firing on a passenger bus had claimed at least nine lives. The pattern of attack does not appear to be entirely accidental. The two sides of Kashmir are not far apart, divided in areas only by a river. It is, therefore, impossible to believe the Indian forces would not know what kind of vehicle they were targeting or what kind of impact it would have.

Pakistan so far has shown extreme restraint given the aggressive actions from India. This is, of course, the only sensible course. But civilian deaths cannot be permitted to continue indefinitely. It does not appear that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his administration are affected at all by Pakistan’s calls or even the wider outrage against atrocities committed against Kashmiris in the Indian held part of the valley. New Delhi needs to be persuaded to talk over all matters rather than attempting to disrupt processes of dialogue as it has done so far, consistently hurling back accusations of terrorism towards Pakistan whenever it is confronted. The manner in which its troops are acting amounts to terrorism in itself. Already, entire villages have been disrupted, lives thrown into chaos and people in no way involved in the conflict between the two countries killed. This time, children came inches away from death from a bullet fired from an Indian gun. This must not happen again. The world needs to find a way to stop it.