RAWALPINDI- Indian shelling from across the restive Line of Control (LoC)on Thursday left at least eight civilians, including four women, wounded inAzad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).
According to AJK officials, the shelling that began in the morning targeteddifferent villages in Khuiratta sector of Kotli district. Residentsdescribed it as the “heaviest” shelling in many weeks.
“They targeted civilian populations with heavy weapons, scaring women andchildren,” said Chaudhry Zarafat, a resident of Khuiratta sector.
A video clip of the latest instance of ceasefire violations made by avillager in Khuiratta shows shells landing in a field, emitting smoke. Thesound of shelling can also be heard in the footage.
Kotli Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Raja Irfan Saleem told *Dawn* thatat least eight people were wounded in the village of Sehri Chattar inKhuiratta.[image: The boundary wall of a house suffers damage by shelling across theLine of Control in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.]The boundary wall of a housesuffers damage by shelling across the Line of Control in Azad Jammu andKashmir.
He identified them as Shahnawaz, 24, his 18-year-old brother Ehtisham,25-year-old Muhammad Farooq, 35-year-old Fareeha, her 16-year-old daughterAmina Ilyas, 40-year-old Shaheena, 25-year-old Tussaraf Begum, and50-year-old Muhammad Fiaz.
“Amina was referred to Rawalpindi on account of her critical condition,while all other injured were treated at Kotli’s District HeadquartersHospital,” Medical Superintendent Dr Tariq Mehmood said.
The worst hit sector in Kotli has been Nakyal where dozens of people havefallen victim to the fresh spate of ceasefire violations by Indian troops.
Though there is no statement as yet from the Inter Services PublicRelations (ISPR) on the situation along the LoC, residents said PakistanArmy troops had responded to India’s “unprovoked shelling”.
SSP Saleem said that the Charhoi sector in Kotli had also been targeted byIndian troops but fortunately no casualty was reported from there.
The heavily militarised LoC is frequently witnessing ceasefire violations,in a serious breach of a truce agreement signed by the rival troops inNovember 2003.
Indian troops committed over 170 ceasefire violations across the LoC andWorking Boundary (WB) in January 2018, according to information provided tothe Senate by Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif last month.
At least 11 civilians have died, whereas 59 others have been injured in therecent spurt of LoC violations.