SIALKOT/MUZAFFARABAD: Unpro­voked firing and shelling by Indian troops from across the Working Boundary and the Line of Control (LoC) left four civilians dead and over 20 others injured in Sialkot border villages and Bhimber district of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) on Friday.

Indian firing on Sialkot border villages in Sucheetgarh, Chaprar, Harpal, Bajra Garhi, Charwah and Zafarwal-Shakargarh sectors has killed five civilians since Thursday.

Those killed in Sialkot border villages on Friday were identified as Irfan Abdul Ghani, 24; Rizwan Afzal, 15; and Waleed Masih, 18. Two women were killed on Thursday.

Narowal Deputy Commissioner Ali Anan Qamar told reporters that the condition of four of the injured — Maria, 15; Muhammad Waseem, 24; Muhammad Asghar, 75; and Muhammad Javaid, 40 — was serious. They were taken to the Shakargarh Civil Hospital in critical condition, he added.

Rescue-1122 officials kept shifting the injured to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) in Sialkot’s Cantonment the whole day on Friday.

Sialkot Deputy Commissioner Dr Farrukh Naveed said a state of emergency had been declared by the administrations of Sialkot and Narowal districts.

He said people of the two districts had started moving towards safe locations in Sialkot city and its surroundings.

In AJK’s Bhimber district, a man was killed and a minor girl injured by the Indian firing.

Ghulam Nabi, 60, died in his home in Naali village of Barnala sector after being hit by splinter from a mortar shell at about 10.30am, said Chaudhry Guftar, deputy commissioner of Bhimber.

In Samahni sector of same district, Chaman Niaz, a 10-year old student of grade five, was injured when she was on way to her school in Nihala Chahi village, he added.

“People were caught off guard by unprovoked shelling by Indian troops,” said Rashid Naeem Khan, Deputy Inspector General of Mirpur region, of which Bhimber is a part.

Friday’s casualties along the LoC pushed the death toll in AJK this year to two while as many have sustained injuries.

AP adds: Indian officials claimed on Friday that two civilians were killed by the firing and shelling of Pakistan’s troops in Jammu region. Police officer S.D. Singh said at least 10 civilians were also injured.

Published in Dawn, January 20th, 2018