Islamabad: Pakistan on Monday summoned India's Deputy High Commissioner Gaurav Ahluwalia to protest over alleged ceasefire violations by Indian troops along the Line of Control (LoC) that it said claimed two lives, including that of a 13-year-old boy.
Foreign Office said that the Director General (South Asia and SAARC Mohammad Faisal, summoned Ahluwalia and "condemned the unprovoked ceasefire violation" along the LoC on September 28 and 29. Faisal, also the Foreign Office spokesperson, said that due to indiscriminate and unprovoked firing by the Indian Army in Nikial and Rakhchikri Sectors, a 60-year-old woman and a boy were killed.
Three persons were also injured. Faisal said that the Indian forces along the LoC and Working Boundary have continuously been targeting civilian areas with artillery fire, heavy-caliber mortars, and automatic weapons, which still continues. "This unprecedented escalation in ceasefire violations by India is continuing from the year 2017 when the Indian forces committed 1,970 ceasefire violations," he said.
The deliberate targeting of civilian populated areas is indeed deplorable and contrary to human dignity, international human rights and humanitarian laws, he said, adding that the ceasefire violations by India are a threat to regional peace and security and may lead to a strategic miscalculation. The Director General urged the Indian side to respect the 2003 ceasefire arrangement; investigate these and other incidents of ceasefire violations; instruct the Indian forces to respect the ceasefire, in letter and spirit and maintain peace on the LoC and the Working Boundary.
(By Sajjad Hussain)
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