Pakistan shot dead six Indian soldiers in a ‘befitting response’ to New Delhi’s ceasefire violations along the Line of Control (LoC), the military’s media wing said Tuesday.
The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said the ceasefire violations occurred in the Tatta Pani sector along the LoC. “Pakistan Army’s befitting response to Indian CFVs in Tatta Pani Sector along LOC. Indian fire had martyred 3 civilians including 7 years old boy. Pakistan Army targeted Indian posts. 6 Indian soldiers including an officer killed, many injured 2 bunkers destroyed,” according to a tweet by ISPR Director General Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor.
Meanwhile, Pakistan summoned Indian Deputy High Commissioner Gaurav Ahluwalia and condemned recent unprovoked ceasefire violations by Indian forces along the LoC.
Indian forces carried out the ceasefire violations on August 18 in the Hot Spring and Chirikot sectors on the Pakistani side of the LoC, resulting in the martyrdom of a seven-year-old boy, Saddam.
Indian forces along the LoC and Working boundary have continuously been targeting civilian populated areas within Pakistan with artillery fire, heavy-caliber mortars, and automatic weapons, which still continues, the Foreign Office said in a press release. “This unprecedented escalation in ceasefire violations by India is continuing from the year 2017 when the Indian forces committed 1970 ceasefire violations,” it said. “The deliberate targeting of civilian populated areas is indeed deplorable and contrary to human dignity, international human rights and humanitarian laws. The ceasefire violations by India are a threat to regional peace and security and may lead to a strategic miscalculation,” it added.
Foreign Office spokesman Dr Faisal urged the Indian side to respect the 2003 ceasefire arrangement, investigate these and other incidents of ceasefire violations, instruct the Indian forces to respect the ceasefire, in letter and spirit and maintain peace on the LoC and the Working Boundary. He maintained that the Indian side should permit UNMOGIP to play its mandated role as per the UN Security Council resolutions.
In Srinagar, Indian security forces detained 30 people overnight, local officials said on Tuesday, seeking to keep a tight lid on protests over the Bharatiya Janata Party government’s decision to strip the region of its autonomy.
Crowds have demonstrated frequently in the city despite a severe clampdown on phone and internet services, imposed on August 5 and still in place, a ban on public gatherings and detentions of hundreds of political leaders and Kashmiri fighters who have long campaigned for liberation from Indian occupation.
Youth have pelted stones at paramilitary police deployed in Srinagar, and the latest detentions took place in parts of the city where such incidents have occurred, a police officer said. “These arrests have been made in the areas where there has been intensifying stone pelting in the last few days,” the officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.
A local government official confirmed the latest detentions.
Last week, a magistrate had said that at least 4,000 people had been arrested and held under the Public Safety Act (PSA), a controversial law that allows authorities to imprison someone for up to two years without charge or trial, since New Delhi stripped the occupied region of its autonomy. “Most of them were flown out of Kashmir because prisons here have run out of capacity,” the magistrate had said, adding that he had used a satellite phone allocated to him to collate the figures from colleagues across the Himalayan territory amid a communications blackout imposed by authorities.
Still, primary schools remained deserted on Tuesday as they were the previous day as parents worried about the safety of their children kept them at home.
Schools in Srinagar remained closed with no students turned up and classes were deserted. “Some teachers reported to duty but left as there were no students,” said an official of the school. Authorities had ordered schools to reopen on Monday after a two-week closure as a sign of normalcy. Srinagar’s top city official Shahid Choudhary asked schools to ensure resumption of bus services. A driver, however, said it was difficult to operate buses in such a volatile situation. “It is very risky for us and the students,” he said.
