Three Pakistan Army personnel were martyred and one was injured due to heavy cross-border shelling by Indian forces along the Line of Control (LoC) on Monday evening, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said.
The development came hours after Pakistan allowed convicted Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav's mother and wife to meet the spy in Islamabad, in what the Foreign Ministry said was a “humanitarian gesture”.
The shelling occurred at Rukh Chakri sector in Rawlakot and received a strong response from Pakistani forces, DawnNews reported.
India had initiated the "unprovoked ceasefire violation" that led to an exchange of fire between the two countries' border forces, the ISPR said.
The heavily militarised LoC that splits disputed Kashmir between India and Pakistan has frequently witnessed cross-border shelling in a serious breach of a truce agreement struck by two armies in Nov 2003.
India has breached the ceasefire agreement on more than 1,300 occasions since the start of this year and at least 52 civilians have lost their lives, while 175 have been injured.
Earlier in the day on Monday, spy Jadhav's mother and wife met him for around 40 minutes.
"We fulfilled the promises we made to them," Foreign Office Spokesman Dr Muhammad Faisal said, after the meeting, adding that Jadhav's family was satisfied with the visit and thanked the FO for providing them the opportunity to meet him.
Jadhav, who was captured by Pakistani security forces on March 3, 2016, in Balochistan, was sentenced to death by a military tribunal earlier this year for his involvement in terrorism and espionage. His appeals against the conviction have been rejected by the military appellate court and his mercy petition has been lying with Army Chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa.
