ISLAMABAD, May 18: Four civilians were martyred and 10 injured when Indian forces opened unprovoked fire on a border village across the Working Boundary in Sialkot.
The Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), the army’s media
wing, said on Friday that the martyred include one woman and three children.
The ISPR stated further that the Punjab Rangers conducted retaliatory fire, and an exchange of fire is taking place intermittently. Following the incident, the acting foreign secretary summoned Indian High Commissioner Ajay Bisaria to the Foreign Office and submitted a letter of protest over the incident.
Indian forces frequently conduct cross-border violations along with Working Boundary as well as in Kashmir across the Line of Control, resulting in the deaths of innocent civilians.
On April 28, Pakistan’s Director General Military Operations (DGMO) has taken up the issue of continuing ceasefire violations by Indian army in a hotline contact with his Indian counterpart.
The ISPR said that Pakistan’s DGMO Maj Gen Shamshad Mirza highlighted deliberate targetting of innocent civilians residing along the LoC and Working Boundary by Indian forces, on the false pretext of reaction against alleged cross-border infiltration.
So far in 2018, 219 innocent civilians, including 112 women and children, have either been martyred or injured because of targeted Indian ceasefire violations, the statement read.
The Pakistani DGMO told his Indian counterpart that such unprofessional and unethical acts are “provocative, detrimental to peace, vitiate the situation along LoC and also contribute towards further escalation”.
He said that instead of engaging in a blame game, Indian security forces need to look inwards, according to the ISPR.
The top Pakistani military official emphasised that durable peace along LoC and Working Boundary is “contingent upon practical manifestation of existing understandings by Indian troops on ground.”-Agencies
