Daily Times

Pakistan Army on Thursday shot down an Indian quadcopter violating the airspace in Sankh Sector along the Line of Control.

“In this provocative act, Indian quadcopter intruded 600 meters inside Pakistan’s territory for conducting surveillance. This blatant act was aggressively responded by Pakistan Army troops and (the quadcopter) was shot down,” Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement.

The Indian Army is persistently violating the ceasefire agreement between the two countries, it said. “Such unwarranted acts by Indian Army are clear violation of established norms, existing Air Agreement between the two countries and reflect Indian Army’s consistent disregard to Ceasefire Understanding of 2003,” the statement concluded.

India and Pakistan are engaged in their most frequent cross-border fighting of at least two years along the Line of Control, official data shows, even as both nuclear-armed rivals battle surging coronavirus outbreaks.

Kashmir has long been a flashpoint between the neighbours but tension was renewed after New Delhi withdrew the autonomy of the Himalayan region last August and split it into federally administered territories.

“(The) Pakistan Army never initiates ceasefire violations along LoC, but it has always responded befittingly to Indian Army’s unprovoked firing,” said ISPR Director General Major General Babar Iftikhar, adding that Pakistan Army has recorded 705 ceasefire violations by the Indian army since the beginning of the year.