Diplomats visit LoC, meet victims of Indian firing

RAWALPINDI: Foreign diplomats visited the Line of Control (LoC) on Thursday, where they took stock of the violations of the ceasefire agreement by the Indian army and met victims of Indian firing, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said.

ISPR Director General Maj-Gen Babar Iftikhar told the delegation that there had been some 2,333 Indian ceasefire violations (CFVs) and unprovoked firing incidents across the LoC in 2020, leaving 18 civilians martyred and 185 injured.

The armed forces spokesman briefed the delegation which included diplomats, attachés and representatives from Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the European Union, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, Greece, Australia, Iran, Iraq, the United Kingdom, Poland, Uzbekistan, Germany, Switzerland, France, Egypt, Libya, Yemen and Afghanistan, as well as representatives from the United Nations World Food Program, during their visit to the LoC, according to the ISPR. He said the Indian army was deliberately targeting the civilian population with heavy weapons, which was a violation of international law, whereas the Pakistan Army, being a professional army only targeted military posts.

Maj-Gen Iftikhar said India was firing indiscriminately on the civilian population to increase provocation in an attempt to divert global attention from the oppression in the Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).

India, he added, was committing grave human rights violations in IIOJK and had increased ceasefire violations on the LoC since 2014. The ISPR DG noted that India used cluster ammunition on innocent civilians in the Neelum Valley on July 30 and 31.

International bodies, especially the United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHCR), had highlighted Indian oppression in their various reports. Maj-Gen Iftikhar said the Kashmir issue needed to be resolved in accordance with the United Nations resolutions. Pakistan, he said, had always welcomed the visit of the United Nations Military Observer Group for Pakistan and India, international media, and diplomats to any area of the LoC and provided them access to the local population to assess the situation on the ground themselves.

He highlighted that, on the contrary, India had never given access to anyone to visit the LoC. Even the UN military observer group was not allowed by India to visit IIOJK or across the LoC areas. India had detained journalists and members of the international media for covering the situation in the IIOJK, he added. The diplomats took stock of the violations of the ceasefire agreement by the Indian Army on the Line of Control. The delegation also met the victims affected due to Indian firing.