Civilian injured in Indian firing

RAWALPINDI: A civilian was seriously injured in unprovoked firing by the Indian security forces across the Working Boundary on Thursday, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement.

The man, identified as Muhammad Hanif, was busy working in his fields in the Sukhial village in Sialkot sector when the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) resorted to unprovoked firing. Hanif was seriously injured. He was immediately shifted to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH), Sialkot.

Unprovoked firing by Indian forces has become a routine along the Line of Control (LoC) and the Working Boundary. The incidents have claimed lives of hundreds of Pakistani soldiers and civilians.

Despite repeated calls for restraint from Pakistan, the Indian troops continue to violate the ceasefire agreement. The war hysteria recently crossed all limits when Indian forces fired on a civilian helicopter inside Azad Kashmir.

The chopper was carrying Prime Minister Azad Jammu and Kashmir Raja Farooq Haider. The incident took place near the Line of Control (LoC)on September 30 when PM Haider was on his way to a nearby village to extend condolences to the family of a local politician who had passed away.

"My helicopter had not even committed any violation and was flying well within our side of the LoC when Indian troops opened fire," the AJK PM had said later in a statement. Pakistan has taken up the matter of Indian ceasefire violations on relative international forums, including the United Nations, but New Delhi never allowed international observers' into its territory or occupied Kashmir. In 2017, Indian forces committed more than 1900 ceasefire violations.