MUZAFFARABAD: A Pakistan Army soldier embraced martyrdom in unprovoked Indian shelling from across the Line of Control (LoC), the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement on Thursday.

The incident occurred in Thub sector, located in Barnala tehsil of Bhimber district in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).

Sepoy Zaheer Ahmed belonged to Sultan Pur village of Bhimber district and he is survived by his wife, according to the statement.

The ISPR said that Pakistan Army troops retaliated effectively and engaged the enemy’s posts involved in the unprovoked firing.

AJK President Sardar Masood Khan and senior minister Chaudhry Tariq Farooq condemned the Indian shelling and termed it a serious breach of the ceasefire agreement.

Indian troops were purposefully escalating tensions along the LoC to distract the international community’s attention from unrelenting human rights violations in India-held Kashmir on one hand and to woo fanatic Indian voters on the other, they said in separate statements.

While paying tribute to the armed forces of Pakistan for defending frontiers of the country with the utmost gallantry, the president noted that contrarily India’s army was constantly acting unscrupulously due to its frustration over failures to curb the popular freedom struggle in held Kashmir.

The senior minister said he felt proud that AJK people constituted a significant strength of the armed forces of Pakistan, which spoke volumes about the immortal bonds of affection and trust between Pakistan and Kashmiris.

Published in Dawn, November 9th, 2018