SIALKOT: Seven people, including two women and a child, were injured by unprovoked mortar shelling by Indian forces on villages in Shakargarh sector along the Sialkot Working Boundary on Sunday.

According to officials of the Punjab Rangers, personnel of India’s Border Security Force resorted to intensified mortar shelling on Sialkot villages early in the morning, targeting the civilian population.

They said several mortar shells exploded inside houses, damaging them badly.

The injured were identified as Manzur Ahmed, Allah Rakha, Mohammad Asif (Bhopalpur village), Hafiz Mohammad Tahir, Nazia Bibi (Maqam Khurd village), Shakeela Bibi and six-year-old Hussain (Sakhu Chak village).

Five of them were admitted to the Shakargarh THQ Hospital and two to Sialkot Combined Military Hos­pital (CMH) in critical condition.

The Indian troops continued targeting the Sialkot villages in Chaprar, Harpal, Bajrah Garhi, Shakargarh and Charwah sectors.

The shelling intermittently continued on Saturday night and the whole day on Sunday.

Several animals were killed by the Indian shelling.

The officials said the Indian shelling was retaliated with full force by the Punjab Rangers.

Meanwhile, the Inter Services Public Relations in a press release rejected the Indian claim of destroying a Pakistani post in Neelum valley along the Line of Control (LoC) on Friday.

In Mirpur, Azad Jammu and Kashmir Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider Khan condemned the continuous unprovoked firing by Indian troops on areas along the LoC and the Working Boundary.

He warned that India should not undermine peace in the region through its warmongering approach.

In a statement, the prime minister said that the whole nation and the armed forces were ready and united for the defence of the motherland.

India was trying to divert attention of the international community from its atrocities and brutalities in held Kashmir, he said.

He said Pakistan was desirous of peace in the region and discouraged confrontation with any country.

The prime minister warned that any act of aggression would be forcefully retaliated. “Our armed forces were fully prepared and had full capability to thwart any aggression,” he added.

Published in Dawn, October 31st, 2016