Four civilians, including a woman and three children, were martyred and 10 others injured when Indian forces opened unprovoked fire on a border village across the Working Boundary in Sialkot on Friday.
The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the army’s media wing, said that the Punjab Rangers conducted retaliatory firing.
Following the incident, the acting foreign secretary summoned Indian High Commissioner Ajay Bisaria to the Foreign Office and lodged a 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) had taken up the issue of 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 targeting 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 were “provocative, detrimental to peace, vitiate the situation along LoC and also contribute towards further escalation”.
Published in Daily Times, May 19th 2018.
