Daily Times

A senior Indian diplomat was Monday summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to register Pakistan’s strong protest over the ceasefire violations by the Indian occupation forces along the Line of Control (LoC) on July 20, resulting in serious injuries to an innocent civilian.

Due to indiscriminate and unprovoked firing by the Indian occupation forces in Bagsar Sector of the LoC, 20-year-old Moin Akhtar, resident of Village Mehtika, sustained serious injuries, the Foreign Office said in a statement.

The Indian occupation forces along the LoC and the Working Boundary (WB) have been continuously targeting civilian populated areas with artillery fire, heavy-caliber mortars and automatic weapons. This year, India has committed 1,732 ceasefire violations to date, resulting in 14 martyrdoms and serious injuries to 134 innocent civilians, the statement mentioned.

Condemning the deplorable targeting of innocent civilians by the Indian occupation forces, it was underscored that such senseless acts were in clear violation of the 2003 Ceasefire Understanding, and were also against all established humanitarian norms and professional military conduct. These egregious violations of international law reflected consistent Indian attempts to escalate the situation along the LoC and were a threat to regional peace and security, it added.

It was added that by raising tensions along the LoC and the WB, India cannot divert attention from the grave human rights situation in the Indian-held Kashmir (IHK). 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.