MUZAFFARABAD: Two children were killed and another three injured in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) in unprovoked firing by Indian forces from across the Line of Control (LoC) on Saturday, officials said.
“Indian troops resorted to intense unprovoked firing in different sectors along the LoC targeting civilian populations,” said the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) in a handout.
Aiqa Ramzan, 6, was injured in Balakot village of Nakyal sector before noon, Nakyal Assistant Commissioner Waleed Anwar told Dawn.
Later in the afternoon, Indian troops resumed shelling which continued, intermittently, till late in the evening, he said.
In Khara Dheri village, Saad Khalil Chaudhry, 9, was killed after a bullet hit him in the head, Mr Anwar said.
Around half an hour later, he added, a mortar shell landed on the house of Kabir Hussain in Dharoti village, injuring his three children, Quratul Ain, 14, Moeen Islam aka Hamayun, 12, and Samiur Rehman, 10.
Hamayun died on the way to the District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital, Kotli.
On Friday, a 45-year old man Sikandar Hayat was injured in Lanjot village of Nakyal sector.
The ISPR said that Indian army also targeted Tetrinote-Chakan da Bagh crossing point, hitting its visitors’ stand.
It said that Pakistan army “aggressively and effectively responded to hostile fire, silenced their [Indian] guns and caused considerable damage to the posts carrying out fire.”
Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria said in a tweet that targeting civilian population was a highly condemnable act, in contravention of international humanitarian and human rights laws.
“Such belligerent acts by India pose grave threat to regional peace and security,” he tweeted.
On Thursday, the Heads of Missions of the Permanent Members of the UN Security Council in Islamabad (China, France, Russian Federation, UK and USA) were briefed by the Foreign Secretary and the Director General Military Operations (DGMO) in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on the escalation in ceasefire violations by Indian troops along the LoC and Working Boundary, particularly in the past two months.
According to a Foreign Office handout, the foreign secretary had expressed grave concern over the increased frequency and duration of indiscriminate firing/shelling from the Indian side, deliberately targeting villages and civilian populated areas in complete disregard of the 2003 Ceasefire Understanding and of International Law.
Published in Dawn, October 15th, 2017
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