Four civilians injured in Indian troops firing along LoC

RAWALPINDI: Director General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Babar Iftikhar Wednesday said the Indian troops targeted civilian population in unprovoked ceasefire violation in Jandrot sector along the Line of Control (LoC).

In a tweet, the DG ISPR said due to Indian troops’ indiscriminate fire in Dera Sher Khan, Sandhara and Bamroch villages, four innocent civilians, including two women and two children, sustained critical injuries. He said the injured citizens were evacuated to nearby medical facility.

The Pakistan Army troops responded effectively to Indian posts which initiated fire, Babar Iftikhar said. The injured included 26-year-old Nasreen, 24-year-old Rabia, and seven-year-old Munshi and Momna.

A senior Indian diplomat was summoned at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to register Pakistan s strong protest over the ceasefire violations by the Indian occupation forces along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jandrot Sector on Tuesday.

The unprovoked firing seriously injured Nasreen Akhtar, 26, resident of Sandhara village; Rabia, 24 and Momina, 7, residents of Dera Sher Khan village; and Munshi, 7, resident of Bamroch village, a Foreign Office press release said issued here.

The Foreign Office said that the diplomat was told that "such senseless acts are in clear violation of the 2003 Ceasefire Understanding, and are also against all established humanitarian norms and professional military conduct.

""These egregious violations of international law reflect consistent Indian attempts to escalate the situation along the LoC and are a threat to regional peace and security," it said.

The Foreign Office said by raising tensions along the LoC and the Working Boundary, India could not divert attention from the grave human rights situation in the Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJ&K).

Indian side was called upon to respect the 2003 Ceasefire Understanding, investigate this and other such incidents of deliberate ceasefire violations and maintain peace along the LoC and the WB.

The Indian side was also urged upon to allow the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) to play its mandated role as per the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolutions.

The Indian occupation forces along the LoC and the Working Boundary (WB) have continuously been targeting civilian populated areas with artillery fire, heavy-caliber mortars and automatic weapons. During current year, India has so far committed 1,296 ceasefire violations resulting in seven persons martyred and 98 seriously injured.--