MUZAFFARABAD / ISLAMABAD: Another civilian was injured in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) due to unprovoked ceasefire violation by Indian army from across the restive Line of Control (LoC), officials said on Saturday.

“Indian troops initiated unprovoked fire in Hajipir and Sankh sectors along the LoC, deliberately targeting civilian population late Friday night,” said Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media affairs wing of Pakistan Army, in a statement.

“Due to the indiscriminate fire of automatics, rockets, heavy mortars and artillery, an innocent woman in Khwaja Bandi village sustained serious injuries,” the ISPR added.

A police official in Haveli, of which Khawaja Bandi village is a part, identified the injured lady as Nasreena Begum, 30, wife of Mohammad Rafique. He said the injured lady was being treated in a health facility in Forward Kahuta, Haveli’s district headquarters.

The police official said that the shelling stopped at about 10:30pm on Saturday night, which was why the casualty in the remote village was reported on Saturday.

On Wednesday, two civilian women and a Pakistan Army soldier were martyred and another two civilians were wounded in Indian shelling in the same district.

In a statement on Thursday, the ISPR had said that Pakistan Army had effectively responded to Indian shelling and there were reports of “heavy losses to Indian troops in men and material”.

A tweet posted at the verified Twitter account of Indian army’s Northern Command at 6:55pm on Saturday authenticated the claim of Pakistan Army as it acknowledged the death of Havildar Gokaran Singh and Naik Shankar Singh Mehra in Rampura sector of occupied Kashmir’s Baramulla district.

In Islamabad, a senior Indian diplomat was summoned to the Foreign Office over the latest ceasefire violations and told that targeting of populated areas was against military ethics.

“Condemning the deplorable targeting of innocent civilians by the Indian occupation forces, it was underscored that such senseless acts are in clear violation of the 2003 Ceasefire Understanding, and are also against all established humanitarian norms and professional military conduct,” the FO said in a statement afterwards.

The FO said India attempted to escalate the situation along the LoC and pose a threat to regional peace and security.

“By raising tensions along the LoC and the WB, India cannot divert attention from the grave human rights situation in the Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir,” the Indian diplomat was told.

India was asked to respect the 2003 Ceasefire Understanding; investigate this and other such incidents of “deliberate ceasefire violations” and maintain peace along the LoC and the WB.

India was further asked to allow the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) to play its mandated role as per the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions to monitor the situation.

Published in Dawn, May 3rd, 2020