LoC violation: Indian offences kill 3 more, death toll reaches 13
India has been incessantly pounding the working boundary and LoC for the past 4 consecutive days.
SIALKOT/ SHAKARGARH/ NAROWAL (Dunya News) – Indian forces continued shelling at the working boundary the fourth day that got three people killed including a woman, the death toll has now reached 13, Dunya News reported.
Pakistan army has been befittingly retaliating to the continued Indian offences.
India has been incessantly pounding the working boundary and the Line of Control (LoC) for the past four consecutive days. The unprovoked firing and shelling from across the border has not ceased since October 1 and the Indian forces are targeting the rural settlements in the areas adjacent to the border.
Early morning fresh firing by the Indian forces at Harpal Sector targeted innocent residents. Muhammad Azam and Saleema Bibi, residents of Rurki village, got martyred in the cowardly fires by the Indian forces.
Intermittent firing had continued at the rural areas adjoining the border at Sialkot, Pasrur, Shakargarh and Narowal the previous day; Chenab Rangers’s efficient retaliation silenced the guns on the opposite side. 40 rural areas have been evacuated after the ceaseless shelling from across the border.
120 educational institutions would remain close in the wake of the critical situation at the working boundary.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has summoned the national security meeting tomorrow considering the continued Indian offences. The participants of the meeting would include all the three chiefs of the armed forces, federal ministers Chaudhry Nisar, Ishaq Dar, Pervaiz Rasheed and Sartaj Aziz. The session would also review the progress of the operation Zarb-e-Azb along with the briefing on Pakistan army’s accomplishments.
Earlier, the death toll of civilians from the Indian shelling over the past three days had reached 10 as two civilians lost their lives in fresh firing by Indian forces at Harpal Sector along the Working Boundary in Sialkot district of Punjab province, Dunya News reported on Wednesday.
The deceased belonged to Sukha Chak and Bajra Garhi villages.
Reportedly, Indian troops used sophisticated weapons including machine guns to target civilian settlements at Kotli, Battal, Goi and Tutta Pani areas of Nakial Sector.
Officials and witnesses say Indian shelling of mortars has caused damage to buildings and houses along the working boundary. They also said nearly 20,000 people have fled homes from the area.
The ongoing violence is one of the worst violations of a 2003 ceasefire between India and Pakistan.
While minor skirmishes have been somewhat common over the years, many were shocked that this week s fighting fell over the Muslim holiday of Eid-ul-Azha and left civilian casualties.
Pakistan s permanent UN envoy, Ambassador Masood Khan, expressed deep concern over the recent escalation of violations of the cease fire at the Line of Control and the Working Boundary by the Indian security forces.
Participating in a debate in General Assembly, Khan called upon the Indian government to immediately observe ceasefire and help preserve tranquility, state radio reported today.
He said United Nations Military Observers Group in India and Pakistan must be enabled to play its role in monitoring the ceasefire.
Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has also urged India and Pakistan to resolve their outstanding issues through negotiations. Pakistan and India have fought three major wars since both countries gained independence from Britain in 1947, two of them over control of Kashmir.
The mountainous Kashmir region is divided between Pakistan and India but claimed in its entirety by both. Both countries had declared ceasefire in 2003 and the current escalations could pose a threat to the ceasefire.
