Daily Times

Three soldiers of the Pakistan Army were martyred in firing by Indian forces from across the Line of Control (LoC), Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Major General Asif Ghafoor said on Thursday.

Two civilians were also killed and another injured in Battal sector of Poonch district due to shelling from across the restive LoC, officials added.

In a tweet from his official account, Ghafoor said that the Pakistan armed forces, in a counterattack, had killed five Indian soldiers and injured several others, while bunkers were also damaged. “Intermittent exchange of fire continues,” he wrote.

He revealed that the Indian Army had increased firing along the LoC as part of “efforts to divert attention from [the] precarious situation in Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir”.

The Pakistani soldiers who lost their lives include Naik Tanveer, Lance Naik Taimoor and Sepoy Ramzan.

The firing offensive from Indian forces comes on August 15, India’s Independence Day. Pakistan is observing the day as a ‘Black Day’ in order to protest against the ongoing Indian atrocities, blatant human rights violations and imposition of curfew in Indian-held Kashmir (IHK). The protest by Pakistan follows New Delhi’s decision to scrap Article 370 of the Indian constitution, stripping IHK of its special autonomy.

In Battal sector, Indian troops started the shelling at about 5am, using machineguns and mortars.

Ilyas Ahmed, a police officer deployed in the area, told a private news channel that the shelling subsided at about midday but resumed with full intensity at about 2pm. “It was ruthless… They pounded the entire area with mortar shells,” he said.

He said that some of the villagers who came out of their homes and other safer places assuming that the shelling would not resume were caught off-guard.

According to him, Muneebur Rehman, 45, son of Sain Rasheed, and Mohammad Aziz, 40, son of Chaudhry Kala Khan, lost their lives in Battal and Natar villages, respectively. Qari Muhammad Naqeeb, 60, was injured in Battal village, he added.

The heavily militarised LoC has been witnessing frequent human and material losses in India’s violation of the 16-year-old truce agreement, particularly after February when an Indian Army convoy was attacked in Pulwama area of IHK.

According to civilian and military officials, the latest ceasefire violation in two sectors pushed the civilian death toll in the current year to 31, including 21 men and 10 women – and that of the military to 14.

Saeed Qureshi, a director at the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) said that another 159 civilians, including 91 men and 68 women, have sustained injuries in the ongoing year. He said some 36 houses and six shops were damaged completely and 239 houses, five cattle sheds, two schools, one health facility, one mosque and five vehicles were damaged partially.

Villagers also lost at least 49 cattle heads in enemy shelling in the current year, he added.

The Foreign Office (FO) summoned Indian Deputy High Commissioner Gaurav Ahluwalia to protest Thursday’s “unprovoked ceasefire violations” by Indian border forces along the LoC, which resulted in the deaths of three Pakistan Army soldiers in Lipa and Battal sectors.

“The Indian occupation forces along the LoC and Working Boundary have continuously been violating the 2003 ceasefire arrangement, which needs to be respected,” an FO statement said, adding that the ceasefire violations by India were a threat to regional peace and security and “may lead to a strategic miscalculation”.

According to a press release, FO Director General (South Asia and SAARC) Dr Mohammad Faisal urged the Indian side to instruct its forces to respect the ceasefire in letter and spirit and maintain peace on the LoC and the Working Boundary.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Imran Khan strongly condemned the unprovoked firing by the Indian security forces along the LoC and also prayed for eternal peace of the martyred soldiers of the Pakistan Army.

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Imran Khan warned the international community of “severe repercussions and reactions” if it will “silently witness another Srebrenica-type massacre and ethnic cleansing of Muslims in IOK”.

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari also urged the international community to take notice of unprovoked firing across the LoC by the Indian troops.

In a statement, the PPP leader condemned the unprovoked Indian firing along the LoC and prayed for higher ranks in Jannah for the soldiers who embraced martyrdom due to Indian firing. “The martyred soldiers are real heroes of Pakistan,” he added.