- 45 Pakistanis lost lives in 11,540 ceasefire violations by India in 2017
ISLAMABAD: Ceasefire violations at the Line of Control (LoC) and Working Boundary alongside Indian Occupied Kashmir (IoK) by Indian army have become a norm, as during the current year India has martyred 45 Pakistani civilians and injured 192 in 11,540 ceasefire violations – the highest number of such violations since 2003.
Data collected from various sources reveal that these violations have claimed lives of 45 innocent civilians in Pakistan, with 192 injured in these attacks. It merits mention that Pakistan and India had reached an agreement between in 2003, but since then Indians have been violating the agreement on a regular basis.
If 2017 would be remembered for highest ceasefire violations by the Indian army, the year 2016 would be remembered as deadliest for residents on Pakistani side living alongside the LoC and Working Boundary. In 2016, 150 civilians were injured 46 lost their lives due to 382 unprovoked Indian attacks – the highest number of casualties since 2003.
Indian forces had injured 142 and martyred 39 Pakistani civilians in 2015.
Pakistan summoned Indian High Commissioner Gautam Bambawale or his deputy 25 times only in the present year. These unprecedented figures reflect how low the diplomatic relations between the two countries have touched.
On the other side, Indian Ministry of External Affairs summoned former Pakistan envoy Abdul Basit on around half a dozen occasions. “Though it is difficult to recall how many times the Indian ministry had summoned any Pakistani official, it was between five to ten times in the entire year,” former ambassador Abdul Basit told Pakistan Today.
While Foreign Office Spokesman Nafees Zakaria has time and again accused that Indian forces are continuously committing unprovoked ceasefire violations on the LoC and the Working Boundary to divert attention of the international community from the core issue of Kashmir, independent experts also agree that India, under a well-thought-out plan, has increased heat on the LoC just to shift media focus from its atrocities being committed against the civilians in the IoK.
Since Kashmiris live on both sides of the LoC, Pakistan army says it does respond to the Indian attacks but being a professional army, the civilian population is not targeted as Muslims live on both sides of the LoC.
According to the official documents available with Pakistan Today, the Indian diplomats were summoned and served demarche on February 8 and 14. The Indian High Commission staff was again called at the Foreign Office to serve demarche on March 10 and 20.
Foreign Office again summoned Indian officials on April 3 and on April 14, Indian High Commissioner Gautam Bambawale was summoned by Foreign Secretary and demarche was served.
May remained relatively calm as the Indian high commission staff was summoned just once, but again in June, the Indian officials were summoned thrice – June 1, 12 and 29. In July again, the Indian deputy high commissioner was served demarche thrice – July 8, 20 and 24.
In August, Indian diplomats were summoned on August 8, 28 and 31.
September remained the worst month, however. The Indian diplomats were summoned at the Foreign Office on September 4, 14, 22, 24 and 27. In October again, the Indian high commission officials have been served demarche four times.
Pakistan has already launched protests and shared the relevant data about the aggressive attacks on the LoC with the United Nations and other relevant forums.
