A woman was martyred and another suffered injuries as Indian forces resorted to unprovoked firing along the Line of Control (LoC) on Sunday.
The aggression was reported in the Kotli sector of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and the martyred woman was identified as 45-year-old Nasreen Akhter.
The identity of the other woman was not confirmed, but it was said that she suffered wounds to her leg.
This was the latest violation by India of a 2003 agreement between Islamabad and New Delhi. On March 11, two people, including a woman, were martyred and four others were injured when the Indian Army resorted to unprovoked firing and shelling at the LoC’s Pando sector in Hattian Bala district of AJK. Four houses were also damaged by the Indian fire.
Prior to that, on March 2, two civilians and two Pakistan Army soldiers embraced martyrdom due to unprovoked and indiscriminate firing by Indian forces along the LoC. The army’s media wing named the martyred soldiers as Havaldar Abdur Rab and Naik Khurram. In January, Indian forces resorted to unprovoked ceasefire violation in Shahkot sector along the LoC, resulting in the martyrdom of a 50-year-old woman, Sajida Bibi.
Meanwhile, suspected fighters shot dead a local leader from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling party in the occupied valley ahead of the latest round of marathon election, police said on Sunday. The killing in Anantnag district is the latest in a string of attacks that have marred India’s staggered election which began last month.
The fighters opened fire on Gul Mohammad Mir, 65, who headed a local unit of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), at his house in south Kashmir on Saturday night. Police said a polling station to be used in the district on Monday was set ablaze in the nearby Shopian area.
Voter turnout in Indian-held Kashmir has barely crossed 10 percent in the previous rounds of the election and Anantnag is expected to suffer on Monday – the fifth round of voting in the six week long election which ends May 19. Results are to be released four days later.
Political killings are common in India’s bitterly-fought elections with party rivalries as well as regional politics boiling over.
Last week a bomb attack by far-left Maoist rebels in western Maharashtra state killed 15 police commandos and their driver. The Maoists, who have traditionally boycotted elections as part of their campaign against the Indian state, killed two police constables in Chhattisgarh state last month. They attacked a political convoy in the same state on April 11, killing five people including a BJP lawmaker.
Monday’s voting will be held in 51 constituencies across seven states, including Uttar Pradesh, India’s biggest state, which accounts for 80 of the 543 lawmakers decided in the election.
Amethi, the family borough of India’s main opposition leader Rahul Gandhi in Uttar Pradesh, also votes Monday. In the 2014 election, the BJP decimated Gandhi’s Congress party, clinching 282 seats. This election is predicted to be closer.