Daily Times

An elderly woman was killed in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) on Tuesday after being hit by a single shot fired by an Indian soldier from across the Line of Control (LoC), officials said.

Imam Bibi, wife of Sher Wali, was busy in household chores in the courtyard of her home in the Polas Kakuta village of Abbaspur sector when she received a fatal gunshot wound in her neck at about 3pm, said Raja Tahir Mumtaz, deputy commissioner of Poonch district.

The 78-year-old died on the spot, he added.

Polas Kakuta is located in the closest proximity of the heavily militarised LoC, which has been witnessing frequent ceasefire violations in serious breach of a 14-year truce agreement between the armies of India and Pakistan.

Though the LoC has been relatively calm since late last month, sporadic ceasefire violations by Indian troops continue to cause harm in AJK.

On Sunday, a 10-year-old boy, playing in the courtyard of his home in Battal sector of Tehsil Hajira, was critically wounded after Indian troops resorted to firing without any provocation.

Earlier, two women were killed and six others wounded in heavy Indian shelling in the Leepa valley of Muzaffarabad division on October 24.

According to military sources, India has committed around 1,141 ceasefire violations this year — the highest compared to other years since November 2003, when the two armies had struck a historic truce agreement. As a result of the violations, 42 civilians (24 of them men and 18 women) have lost their lives while another 248 have sustained injuries in different areas of AJK in the ongoing year, according to the State Disaster Management Authority.

Published in Daily Times, November 15^th 2017.