Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday summoned a senior Indian diplomat to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs here to register the country’s strong protest over the ceasefire violations by the Indian occupation forces along the Line of Control (LoC) on 12th August 2020, resulting in serious injuries to two innocent civilians.
Due to indiscriminate and unprovoked firing by the Indian occupation forces in Jandrot Sector of the LoC, 40 year old Shakeela Bibi w/o Muhammad Rafeeq and 12 year old Ayesha Kausar d/o Muhammad Rafeeq, residents of Village Fanjot, 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.
This year, India has committed 1961 ceasefire violations to date, resulting in 16 shahadats and serious injuries to 160 innocent civilians, Foreign Office said in a statement issued here.
Condemning the deplorable targeting of innocent civilians by the Indian occupation forces, 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,” the statement emphasized.
It was added that by raising tensions along the LoC and the WB, India cannot divert attention from the grave human rights situation in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK). 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.
Meanwhile, The Foreign Office on Thursday condemned the killing of a mentally-challenged Pakistani Hindu teenager by India’s Border Security Forces (BSF), saying India could not succeed in spreading misinformation about Pakistan. The Foreign Office Spokesperson in response to a media query mentioned that on the night of August 8, the BSF shot dead a 17-year-old civilian named Bero Mal in Nagarparkar Sector. “This condemnable killing of the mentally-challenged Pakistani Hindu comes in the backdrop of Indian misinformation and propaganda campaign against Pakistan including the so-called ‘infiltration’ across the border,” he said.
