Pakistan lodges protest with India over LoC ceasefire breach

ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office summoned a senior Indian diplomat to register Pakistan’s strong protest over Thursday’s ceasefire violations by Indian occupation forces along the Line of Control (LoC) that resulted in serious injuries to two innocent civilians.

Spokesperson Zahid Hafiz Chaudhry in a statement said that 35-year-old Shakeel Ayub and 8-year-old Luqman Shakeel, residents of Baroh Village, had sustained serious injuries due to indiscriminate and unprovoked firing by the Indian occupation forces in Baroh Sector of the LoC.

He said the Indian 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, he added, India has committed 2,340 ceasefire violations to date, resulting in the martyrdom of 18 people and serious injuries to 187 innocent civilians.

Condemning the deplorable targeting of innocent civilians by the Indian occupation forces, the statement said, it was underscored that such senseless acts are in clear violation of the 2003 Ceasefire Understanding, and are 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,” it read. “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 & Kashmir (IIOJK).”