MUZAFFARABAD: Seven people were injured in two areas of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) on Monday in Indian shelling from across the Line of Control (LoC), officials said.

In Bandala sector of Bhimber district, Indian troops started shelling at 4pm which continued till the evening in intervals, Mir Mohammad Abid, Senior Superintendent of Police in Bhimber, told Dawn. The Indian shelling and firing left six people injured in three villages, he said.

Those injured in the shelling were identified as Waheed Khan, Zareena Begum, Adeel Talib, Chaudhry Mohammad Jamil, Shaheen Kausar and Nazma Bibi.

In Poonch district, Indian troops’ firing left Mohammad Danish injured, said Rashid Naeem Khan, Deputy Inspector General of Police.

“The teenager was standing outside his home in Polas village when some Indian soldier aimed at him from his post across the divide,” located hardly at a distance of 200 metres, he told Dawn by telephone.

The bullet hit the victim in the leg and he was hospitalised in Rawalakot, he said.

Incidents of targeting firing at villagers doing different chores by the Indian army are often reported from vulnerable villages in closest proximity of the LoC.

On Monday last, a woman was hit and killed by Indian army in a similar fashion in Radd Kathar village of Kotli district while she was cutting grass for cattle.

According to Syed Shahid Mohyiddin Qadri, AJK’s secretary of civil defence and disaster management, since the start of 2020, six civilians had been killed and 70 injured in firing and shelling by the Indian army.

In a statement, AJK Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider condemned the “unprovoked” and unrelenting ceasefire violations from across the dividing line and said they reflected frustration of the Indian army.

“Hardly any day goes by when civilian casualties do not occur at the hands of coward Indian army in areas along the ceasefire line. In fact, Indian troops are a bunch of poltroons who vent their exasperation by killing and injuring unarmed and innocent Kashmiris on both sides of the divide at the behest of a fascist government,” he said.

Published in Dawn, May 5th, 2020