MUZAFFARABAD: Indian troops heavily shelled different areas of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) from across the restive Line of Control (LoC) on Saturday, leaving at least five civilians dead and 10 others wounded.

The bloodbath along the dividing line, the highest in several months of cross-border attacks, coincided with the first death anniversary of Hizbul Mujahideen’s young militant commander Burhan Muzaffar Wani, and was condemned by the AJK government and Islamabad in strong words.

The worst affected were Abbas­pur and Hajira sectors in southern Poonch district, where shelling began early in the morning, with Indian troops using small and heavy arms, Deputy Commissioner Raja Tahir Mumtaz told Dawn.

FO summons Indian diplomat to protest over ceasefire violations

According to him, Mohammad Sharif, 75, was killed in Bhaira village near the Tetrinote crossing point in Hajira sector, after a mortar shell landed on his mud house.

A 70-year-old woman, Sassi Begum, was also killed in Tetrinote, where she had come from Mandhol village in Battal sector to meet relatives.

Riyasat, 35, and Aqsa Iftikhar, 18, were injured in Tetrinote.

In Abbaspur sector, a 26-year-old woman, Faiza Saleem, was killed and two young girls — Adiba, 22, and Mahnoor, 17 — were injured in Satwal village. The three belonged to the same family, Another woman, Kulsoom, 35, was killed and her 14-year-old son Zahid suffered injuries in Dhakki Chafar village.

“Initially Zahid was injured. When Kulsoom rushed to rescue him, she too fell prey to the shelling and died on the spot,” DC Mumtaz said.

Apart from them, Abida Parveen, 22, was injured in Chafar and Rizwan Hanif, 16, and Faizan Ali, 14, were injured in Batol and Chaatra villages.

In Kotli district, a 22-year-old girl, Aniba Jamshed, succumbed to injuries in the District Headquarters Hospital in the afternoon, SSP Chaudhry Zulqarnain Sarfraz told Dawn.

The girl had received a bullet in her head in Lanjot village of Nakyal sector at about 6:30am, he said.

Elsewhere in the same sector, Mohammad Ilyas and Jahangir were injured in Oli Panjni village, he added.

The Inter-Services Public Relations, the media wing of the military, said in a statement that Pakistani troops responded “effectively to Indian unprovoked firing”.

The heavily militarised LoC, which splits the disputed region of Jammu and Kashmir between Pakistan and India, has been extremely tense for quite some time. As a result, civilian casualties occur frequently.

The latest casualties have pushed the number of those killed in AJK in Indian shelling this year to 18 and those injured to over 105, according to officials of the State Disaster Management Authority.

Shelling condemned

AJK’s acting Prime Minister Chaudhry Tariq Farooq has strongly condemned India for “unleashing terror on both sides of the LoC”.

“In held Kashmir, Indian troops are mercilessly killing freedom-seeking Kashmiris and, to divert world attention from her barbaric actions, India has unleashed an undeclared war along the LoC by indiscriminately targeting AJK’s unarmed civilian people,” he said in a statement.

The acting premier called upon the international community, particularly the United Nations, to take stock of the situation without further ado in the interest of global peace.

In Islamabad, the Foreign Office (FO) summoned Indian Deputy High Commissioner J.P. Singh to lodge protest against the “unprovoked” ceasefire violations.

“The deliberate targeting of civilians is deplorable and contrary to human dignity and international human rights and humanitarian laws,” FO Director General (South Asia and Saarc) Dr Muhammad Faisal told Mr Singh.

He urged India to respect the 2003 ceasefire agreement, investigate the latest and other incidents of ceasefire violations and maintain peace along the LoC.

Published in Dawn, July 9th, 2017