Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Major General Babar Iftikhar on Tuesday termed India’s insinuation about infiltration and ceasefire violations (CFVs) “baseless” and said they were designed to divert global and domestic attention from the “unending fiasco”.
In a post on Twitter, the ISPR DG also termed allegations that Pakistan had infiltrated COVID-19 infected people into India-occupied Kashmir as “delusional”.
He was referring to a recent interview of commander of the Indian Army’s 15th Corps Lt Gen BS Raju to the BBC. The 15th Corps is responsible for security along the Line of Control (LoC) and internal security of Kashmir.
In his interview, the Indian commander had alleged that ceasefire violations by the Pakistan Army were “shameful”. He further said that “Pakistan needs to change its behaviour so that both countries can deal with the coronavirus pandemic in their own ways”. Raju also claimed that Pakistan was deliberately sending people infected with COVID-19 into Kashmir.
Responding to a question, the commander said that he had not seen any “major change” in the deployment pattern of the Pakistan Army but claimed that India was “getting intelligence that Pakistan was getting people infected with COVID-19 into Kashmir” and said that the country was “concerned that Pakistan is underplaying its number of cases”. In his tweet, the DG ISPR refuted both allegations, terming them “baseless” and “delusional”, advising the Indian government to focus on “addressing the internal mess” which he said was created not only by COVID-19 but also by the “tragedy unfolding in India-occupied Kashmir for years on end”.
Meanwhile, a senior diplomat from the High Commission of India was summoned to the Foreign Office to register a “strong protest” over ceasefire violations by the Indian army on Monday which injured a civilian in Jandrot sector.
In a statement, the Foreign Office said that it “condemned the targeting of innocent civilians by the Indian occupation forces” and observed that the firing along the LoC was “in clear violation of the 2003 Ceasefire Understanding and in complete disregard for international human rights and international law”. Indian troops have been firing artillery and heavy mortars on civilian settlements along the LoC since last Friday. Forty-one incidents of violations were recorded only on Sunday, taking the tally so far this year to 749. Three civilians, including an infant, have been martyred due to multiple Indian shelling incidents this year. An Indian quadcopter was shot down by Pakistan Army on Thursday after it “intruded 600 metres into Pakistan’s territory to conduct surveillance”, according to an ISPR statement.
