Pakistan on Wednesday summoned India’s Deputy High Commissioner JP Singh to lodge its protests against the alleged unprovoked ceasefire violations by Indian forces along the Line of Control. A Pakistani villager was allegedly killed in the firing that took place in the Kotkotera sector on Tuesday.
Singh was summoned by Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mohammad Faisal, who “condemned the unprovoked ceasefire violations by the Indian forces”, a statement from the Pakistan Foreign Office said. There have been more than 2,000 incidents of ceasefire violations along the LoC by the Indian forces since 2017, leading to 32 civilian deaths and injuring 122, the statement added.
“This unprecedented escalation in ceasefire violations by India is continuing from year 2017 when the Indian forces committed 1,970 ceasefire violations,” it said. “The deliberate targeting of civilian population areas is indeed deplorable and contrary to human dignity and international human rights and humanitarian laws. The ceasefire violations by India are a threat to regional peace and security and may lead to a strategic miscalculation.”
Faisal urged the Indian forces to respect the 2003 ceasefire agreement, both in letter and in spirit, and to maintain peace along the LoC.
Last month, the Pakistan Army allegedly violated the ceasefire by firing at forward posts of the Indian Army along the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district. When the directors general of military operations of the two armies held talks on the occasion of India’s Independence Day, India told Pakistan that infiltration from across the LoC have increased to the north of the Pir Panjal mountain range and asked Islamabad to take measures to prevent it.
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