Five civilians injured in Indian firing at LoC

RAWALPINDI: Five civilians including two innocent boys and two elderly women were injured in Indian army troops unprovoked ceasefire violation in Nikial Sector, along the Line of Control (LoC) targeting civil population late Sunday night.

Pakistan Army troops responded effectively to Indian firing, the ISPR said on Monday. Earlier, a 22-year old woman was injured in unprovoked firing by Indiantroops in Batta sector on Saturday night. A young boy was martyred in the firing by Indian troops in Lipa sector, last week.

Meanwhile, 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 Line of Control (LoC) on July 5, resulting in serious injuries to five civilians including three children.

The indiscriminate and unprovoked firing of Indian forces in Nikial Sector seriously injured 10 and a seven-year-old Junaid and Aryan respectively, Jahan Begum, 70, Zubaida Bibi, 50, Kamran Shafique, 15 in Truthi and Ghim Bala village.

The Foreign Office said the Indian occupation forces along LoC and the Working Boundary (WB) had been continuously targeting civilian populated areas with artillery fire, heavy-caliber mortars and automatic weapons.

This year, India has committed 1,595 ceasefire violations to date, resulting in 14 martyred and 121 seriously injured.

Condemning the deplorable targeting of innocent civilians by the Indian occupation forces, it was underscored 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," the Foreign Office said.

It was added that by raising tensions along the LoC and the WB, India could not divert attention from the grave human rights situation in the Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJ&K).

The 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.

It was 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.