Pakistan's Foreign Office on Tuesday protested the killing of a 35-year-old woman by Indian forces shooting across the Line of Control (LoC) in the latest violation of a 2003 ceasefire agreement.

Director General (South Asia and SAARC) Dr Mohammad Faisal summoned the Indian Deputy High Commissioner JP Singh yet again to hand him a statement on the Indian forces' killing of a woman and injuring of another in unprovoked firing in the Khuiratta and Kerala districts in Azad Jammu and Kashmir on Monday.

The statement noted that India has violated the LoC ceasefire arrangement more than 600 times in 2017, killing 25 citizens and injuring more than 100. The Foreign Office urged India to respect the 2003 ceasefire arrangement and maintain peace across the LoC. It also said that killing innocent citizens is a violation of human rights and international laws.

The Foreign Office also repeated its demand that India allow United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) to play its role as mandated by UN Security Council resolutions.

The Foreign Office had summoned Singh thrice in July to protest repeated LoC violations by Indian forces. After a return of fire that reportedly killed three Indian soldiers, India had also accused Pakistan of targeting civilians, a charge that was strongly denied.

“Pakistan Army is a professional force and considers it absolutely unethical to target the civil population, more so when our own Pakistani Kashmiris live across. Pakistan Army targets only those Indian posts which initiate firing on innocent civilians,” a Pakistan military spokesman had said.