MUZAFFARABAD: A young boy was wounded in a village of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) on Sunday after Indian troops resorted to ceasefire violation from across the heavily militarised Line of Control (LoC), police and military said.

A police official stationed in Forward Kahuta, district headquarters of Haveli, told Dawn by telephone that Indian troops resorted to ceasefire violation at about 7.30am in Chirikot sector, “using both small and heavy arms and targeting civilian population”.

An eight-year-old orphan boy, identified as Khayam Hanif, who was herding cattle in Seerhiyan village, was seriously injured after shrapnel from a mortar shell pierced through his left shoulder, he said.

The boy was initially admitted to a military-run health facility in Forward Kahuta, but was later shifted to Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed al Nahayan Hospital in Rawalakot.

Mahmood Rathore, a Kahuta-based journalist, told Dawn that they heard the thunder of mortar guns for about half an hour in the morning.

In a brief statement, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) confirmed the incident.

“Pakistani troops effectively responded to the Indian post that [had] opened fire,” the ISPR said.

In November 2003, Indian and Pakistan officials had signed a historic agreement to ensure ceasefire along the LoC and Working Boundary.

The truce agreement notwithstanding, Indian troops frequently resort to ceasefire violations, hitting mostly innocent civilians.

In May this year, the directors general, military operations of the two countries agreed to undertake sincere measures to improve the existing situation, ensuring peace and avoidance of hardships to the civilians along the LoC and Working Boundary, but to no avail.

According to Saeed Qureshi, a senior official at the State Disaster Management Authority, as many as 25 persons, seven of them women, have lost their lives this year to Indian shelling in different areas of AJK, while another 140, including 67 women, have sustained injuries.

The shelling has also left at least 28 houses partially damaged and two houses and a shop completely damaged in the current year, the official said.

The last casualty at the LoC was reported on Sept 10, when a 39-year-old man was killed by India’s mortar shelling in Samahni sector of Bhimber district.

Earlier on Sept 30, Indian troops fired upon a civilian helicopter carrying AJK Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider and two ministers.

They were returning from Haveli district where they had gone to offer condolences to a cabinet member when the copter escaped firing.

Luckily, all on board had remained unhurt.

Published in Dawn, October 15th, 2018