MUZAFFARABAD: Unprovoked Indian firing from across the Line of Control (LoC) left a man dead and a woman injured in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) in the early hours of Monday morning, triggering a strong protest by Pakistan, officials said.

“Indian occupation forces resorted to unprovoked firing in Baghsar sector along the LoC, targeting civil population. A 26-year-old citizen embraced shahadat while a woman got injured,” said the Inter-Service Pub­lic Relations (ISPR) in a statement.

“Pakistan army troops responded effectively to those posts targeting civil population. Ceasefire violations along the LoC are on the increase yet again,” added the army’s media affairs wing.

In Islamabad, Director General for South Asia and Saarc Dr Mohammad Faisal summoned Indian Deputy High Commissioner J.P. Singh and condemned unprovoked ceasefire violations by the Indian occupation forces along the LoC on Monday.

In a statement, he said the Indian forces along the LoC and the Working boundary were continuously targeting civilian populated areas with heavy weapons.

This unprecedented escalation in ceasefire violations by India has been continuing from the year 2017 when the Indian forces committed 1,970 ceasefire violations, he added.

He said the deliberate targeting of civilian populated areas was indeed deplorable and contrary to human dignity, international human rights and humanitarian laws.

“The ceasefire violations by India are a threat to regional peace and security and may lead to a strategic miscalculation,” he said.

Dr Faisal urged the Indian side to respect the 2003 ceasefire arrangement; investigate this and other incidents of ceasefire violations; instruct the Indian forces to respect the ceasefire, in letter and spirit, and maintain peace on the LoC and the Working Boundary.

He also called on the Indian side to permit UNMOGIP to play its mandated role as per the UN Security Council resolutions.

Baghsar sector is located in Samahni tehsil of AJK’s southernmost Bhimber district.

Dr Iqbal Hussain Chaudhry, Bhimber district health officer, told Dawn that Indian troops resorted to shelling late on Sunday which continued till the early hours of Monday.

Muhammad Azeem died in burst firing in his home in Pindori village, he said. The deceased was laid to rest in Jand Pir village of Barnala tehsil on Monday afternoon.

In the neighbouring Kawlian village, Naseem Akthar, 45, was injured between 2.30 to 3.15am, the DHO said. She was admitted to a military-run health facility in Bhimber, he added.

Monday’s casualties were the first in 2019 in unrelenting ceasefire violations by the Indian army in a breach of May 2018 understanding between the top military officials of both sides to undertake sincere measures to improve the existing situation and ensure peace along the LoC and Working Boundary.

However, last year 28 civilians lost their lives along the LoC in AJK and another eight lost their lives along the Working Boundary in Punjab in as many as 2,350 ceasefire violations by Indian army.

Published in Dawn, January 8th, 2019