Why LoC is in the news?

The Line of Control (LoC) is reaching the boiling stage as Indian troops continue to fire across at the Pakistani civilians and military check-posts. According to regional analysts, this is being done so as to divert attention from illegal actions India is taking in occupied Kashmir.

The army chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, has declared that India is trying to shift the global attention from its illegal moves in Kashmir to the LoC and Pakistan. About the martyrdom of three soldiers and Indian provocation at the LoC, the ISPR stated: “In efforts to divert attention from the precarious situation in IOJ&K [Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir], Indian Army increases firing along the LoC.

Three Pakistani soldiers embraced shahadat [martyrdom].” Prime Minister Imran Khan also strongly condemned the unprovoked firing by Indian security forces along the LoC.

The Foreign Office summoned India’s Deputy High Commissioner Gaurav Ahluwalia to lodge a formal protest over the unprovoked firing. Pakistani troops responded effectively to the attack and killed five Indian soldiers and injured many others besides damaging the bunkers.

According to the Pakistani officials, about 425,000 civilians residing in areas around the LoC were under threat because of Indian firing. Incidences of firing have so far caused scores of deaths while more than 3,000 people have been injured and 3,500 houses have been damaged as a result.

The held Kashmir and Azad Kashmir are divided by a barrier that consists of double row fencing and concertina wire, eight to twelve feet in height, electrified and connected to a network of motion sensors, thermal imaging devices, lighting systems and alarms.

The two 12-feet-high fences run parallel to each other with eight-feet-wide corridor in between. It has been erected by the Indians. According to analysts, the Indian Army’s strategy to quell the new and coming deadly wave of violence from locals in the Valley would again rest on blaming Pakistan for the indigenous movement that has already begun after India abrogated the special status of the valley.

Evidently, the Indian forces are in pro-active mode after the recent developments. The hard-line iron-fist strategy to finish off militancy in the state by killing as many protesters as possible would be implemented.

To divert the world attention, firing would be further increased from the Indian side at the LoC. But the local Kashmiris, seething with anger, have started rising against the Indian atrocities. After the recent historic UNSC meeting that was held after 50 years and the Kashmir issue was discussed, more escalation at the LoC by India would be counter-productive and further bring the issue into the international limelight.