Pakistan on Tuesday asked India to stop targeting civilian populations in villages along the Line of Control (LoC) and the Working Boundary as another woman was killed and two other people were injured during the day in intensified mortar shelling by the Indian Border Security Force on border villages in Charwah, Harpal, Sucheetgarh, Chaprar and Merajkey sectors along the Sialkot Working Boundary.
However, Pakistan instructed the Indian military, in letter and spirit, to stop targeting the villages and civilians in order to maintain peace along the Working Boundary and LoC.
South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) Director General Dr Mohammad Faisal summoned on Tuesday Indian Deputy High Commissioner JP Singh and strongly condemned the unabated ceasefire violations by Indian troops along the Line of Control (LoC).
At least six civilians, including a woman, were killed on Monday by the Indian forces firing in Nakyal and Jandrot sector, a Foreign Office (FO) statement said.
The DG urged the Indian officials to respect the 2003 Ceasefire Understanding and investigate the consistent incidents of violation.
Relations between the two countries have plummeted in recent months, with New Delhi blaming Islamabad for a raid on an army base in September that killed 19 soldiers. Pakistan denies the charge.
The cross-LoC shelling on Monday was one of the deadliest this year as India committed a series of ceasefire violations in the wake of heightened tensions over the ongoing unrest in India-held Kashmir.
-India committed 178 ceasefire violations in 2016-
Indian forces committed 178 ceasefire violations along the LoC and Working Boundary this year, killing 19 civilians and injuring 80 others, the ISPR said.
Tensions were already high before the army base attack over the July 8 death of a popular militant leader, with nearly 90 people killed in clashes with security forces in Indian-held Kashmir since then.
Last week the Modi government said it was expelling a Pakistani visa official for suspected spying, with Islamabad responding by sending back an Indian diplomat in an apparent tit-for-tat move.
UN mission visits Kotli
A group of United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) visited Kotli district, near the LoC, on Tuesday and obtained firsthand information of Indian high-handedness of targeting civil population near the de facto border.
