A man was killed in Azad Jammu and Kashmir’s (AJK) Poonch district on Tuesday when Indian forces resorted to unprovoked firing from across the Line of Control (LoC).
The deceased, identified as Muzaffar Chaudhry, became a victim of Indian firing when he was trimming a tree in the courtyard of his house, according to local police.
“It was a single shot that hit the 55-year-old victim in the head, and he fell off the tree and died on the spot,” police added.
The victim’s family rushed him to a health facility in Tatta Pani – located 7 kilometres ahead of Dara Sher Khan – where the doctors pronounced him dead on arrival.
Relatives and other residents staged a demonstration in Tatta Pani to condemn unprovoked ceasefire violations across the LoC and express support for anti-India struggle.
Commenting on the violation, AJK’s senior minister Chaudhry Tariq Farooq maintained that wilful targeting of unarmed civilians from across the LoC were highly condemnable acts by Indian Army, repugnant to global human rights, humanitarian laws and human dignity.
According to reports, 46 civilians were killed in such attacks and another 262 wounded in 2017, while the number of the deceased and injured persons in 2016 was 41 and 142 respectively, the SDMA said.
Published in Daily Times, May 16th 2018.