Ceasefire violations along LoC: Senior Indian diplomat summoned to register protest

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan summoned a senior Indian diplomat to the Foreign Office on Thursday to register a strong protest over the ceasefire violations by the Indian occupation forces along the Line of Control (LoC) on 19th August 2020, resulting in serious injuries to one innocent civilian, the Foreign Office said.

Due to indiscriminate and unprovoked firing by the Indian occupation forces in Sabzkot Sector of the LoC, a 70-year-old Jan Bibi, resident of Village Khui, sustained serious injuries.

"The Indian occupation forces along the LoC and the Working Boundary (WB) have been continuously targeting civilian-populated areas with artillery fire, heavy-caliber mortars and automatic weapons," said Foreign Office spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri. During the current year, he added that India had committed more than 2,027 ceasefire violations to date, resulting in 16 shahadats and serious injuries to 166 innocent civilians.

Condemning the deplorable targeting of innocent civilians by the Indian occupation forces, he added that it was underscored that such senseless acts were in clear violation of the 2003 Ceasefire Understanding, and were also against all established humanitarian norms and professional military conduct.

"These egregious violations of international law reflect consistent Indian attempts to escalate the situation along the LoC and are a threat to regional peace and security," he said, adding that it was conveyed to the Indian side that by raising tensions along the LoC and the WB, it could not divert attention from the grave human rights situation in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).

He added that the Indian side was called upon to respect the 2003 Ceasefire Understanding; investigate this and other such incidents of deliberate ceasefire violations and maintain peace along the LoC and the WB. The Indian side was also urged to allow the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) to play its mandated role as per the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions, he added.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020