As a gesture of goodwill and in continuation of Pakistan army’s efforts to maintain peace and tranquillity along the Line of Control (LoC), armed forces repatriated a woman from India-held Kashmir who inadvertently crossed the border, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a press release on Tuesday.

A resident of Degwar Maldialan village in India-held Kashmir, Azmat Jan, had accidentally crossed the unmarked border in Chirikot sector, the ISPR said without giving any further details.

She was returned to held Kashmir on "humanitarian grounds" from the Tetrinote-Chakan da Bagh crossing point in Poonch district in the presence of civilian and military officials from both sides.

An out of focus picture, that is circulating on social media, showed an official presenting Azmat Jan a gift box before her repatriation.

People living along the heavily militarised LoC — that splits the disputed region of Kashmir between Pakistan and India — often stray across while herding cattle, cutting fodder or picking firewood of medicinal plants.

They are returned to their respective side at the earliest, according to a long time understanding between both sides.

However, in February a 35-year-old woman Rasheeda Bibi, who was mentally ill, was shot dead by India’s Border Security Force, after she lost her way and crossed the working boundary near Sialkot.

In sharp contrast to it, Pakistani officials repatriated two Kashmiri youth – Bilal Ahmed, 23, and Arfaz Yousuf, 24 — to India-held Kashmir, only two days after that incident. The duo had separately strayed into the Azad Jammu and Kashmir territory more than two years ago.

Earlier an Indian soldier Chandu Babulal Chohan, who was earlier reported to be captured from the LoC in September 2016, was also returned to India in January this year.

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