ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Tuesday lodged strong protest over Monday’s ceasefire violations by Indian forces that left three soldiers martyred as both the civil and military leadership rejected India’s claims that the fresh aggression was another “surgical strike” crossing the Line of Control (LoC) in Azad Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district.

The Foreign Office’s Director General for South Asia and Saarc, Dr Mohammad Faisal, summoned the acting deputy high commissioner of India and condemned fresh unprovoked ceasefire shelling, calling it violations by the Indian occupation forces in the Rakhchikri sector along the LoC.

“That provided a cover for the planting of improvised explosive devices by non-state actors, resulting in the Shahadat of three soldiers and injuring another,” said a statement released by the FO. “He [Dr Faisal] categorically rejected the Indian claims that there was any crossing of the LoC by the Indian forces. The Indian actions got a befitting response from the Pakistani side and their guns were silenced.”

Indian media’s claim about surgical strike rejected

On Monday evening, three army soldiers embraced martyrdom and one suffered injuries along the LoC in AJK when Indian troops resorted to unprovoked shelling. According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the casualties occurred in Rakhchikri sector of Poonch district. The Indian authorities remained silent about the recent violation of the ceasefire agreement, but the media of the neighbouring country on Tuesday came up with the claims citing unnamed sources that the fresh casualties of Pakistani soldiers were result of a “surgical strike”.

Giving no details about the sources, it went on to propagate that five commandos of the Indian army crossed the LoC in Poonch district to attack a group of Pakistani soldiers on patrol near a temporary post. The claim received rejection from the Pakistani side unanimously from both civil and military offices calling it an attempt by the Indian authorities “to satisfy domestic audience”.

“No Indian soldier crossed over LoC,” tweeted Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor, Director General of the ISPR. “Indian media claim is continuation of their self-defeating projections to satisfy domestic audience.”

The Foreign Office in its statement also carried the same stance and called upon the Indians to investigate a series of ceasefire violations by their soldiers instead of making false claims that could prove “counter-productive for peace and tranquility on the LoC”.

“The false claims by India about the alleged cross LoC adventures are a figment of their imagination and counter-productive for peace and tranquillity on the LoC,” said the FO statement. “The director general [South Asia and Saarc] urged the Indian side to respect the 2003 ceasefire arrangement and investigate this and other incidents of ceasefire violations and instruct the Indian forces to respect the ceasefire in letter and spirit and maintain peace on the LoC. He urged that the Indian side should permit UNMOGIP to play its mandated role as per the UN Security Council resolutions.”

Published in Dawn, December 27th, 2017