Pak continues to violate ceasefire along LoC

Pakistan troops continued shelling and firing on civilian areas and border out posts (BoPs) along the Line of Control in Krishna Ghati and Nowshera sectors of Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir on Monday, prompting the Indian Army to retaliate with the same force.

Defence spokesperson Lt Col Manish Mehta said Pak troops resorted to firing on forward posts along the LoC in Krishna Ghati sector from 6:20 am. “The Pak army also started firing from small arms, automatics RPG and mortars in Nowshera sector from 8:45 am,” he said and added since June 1, this was ninth ceasefire violation done by Pakistan army and in last 72 hours this was the sixth violation.

However, there was no report of any causality in the latest ceasefire violations. Reports said Army and administration have advised people putting up along the LoC not to move out of their houses. “People live under panic risking their lives as Pakistan troops were targeting civilian areas with 120 mm mortar shells. Some of the civilians have already shifted to the houses of their relatives or their own houses in the safer areas but majority of population was living in the villages,” reports added.

Like the previous days, Pakistan troops were directly targeting the civilian population in the border villages as some mortar shells were landing in areas four kilometres away from the LoC, sources said.

There has been spurt in ceasefire violations by Pakistani troops on LoC and International Border (IB) since May 1 after Pakistani Border Action Team (BAT) beheaded two Indian troopers on May 1.  The Indian Army had recently launched “punitive fire assaults” on Pakistani positions across the LoC, inflicting "damage".

There have been hundreds of violations of the 2003 ceasefire agreement by the Pakistan along the LoC and the IB in J&K since Indian army carried surgical strikes on terror launch pads in Pakistan occupied Kashmir on September 29 last year.