JAMMU: Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch sector has been hit with frequent ceasefire violations in the past week. While the Line of Control witnesses deaths of army personnel and civilians in such violations, this Friday it witnessed an unprecedented funeral of a teenager at the border fence.
Sixteen-year-old Tanweer was killed during firing from Pakistani side on Friday. His family intended to bury him on their own land at the Noorkote village on the Line of Control. But under intermittent but intense firing from the Pakistani side, they could not go ahead with it. Later, a local mosque intervened in making an impassioned plea to stop the firing.
“You have killed a man in firing. Stop the firing. We want to conduct the funeral prayers,” the mosque announced on their loudspeakers, according to Jehangir Mir, Member of State Legislative Council.
The fresh round of firing has triggered a wave of fear among those residing at villages near the LoC. The locals have started moving to safer areas. The ceasefire violation by Pakistan comes after over three weeks of silence on the border after the Indian Army launched a counter-offensive against killing of three soldiers in the Machhil sector.
“There is lot of fear. Two to three bombs are dropping at one place, they cover a large area causing causalities of people and livestock, people are living in total fear,” said Sunil Kumar, resident of a village near the border.
In the past two days, Pakistan has violated ceasefire twice in cases of unprovoked firing. On Sunday, police said the Pakistanis resorted to unprovoked shelling and firing on Indian positions at three places. “The Indian Army retaliated effectively using same calibre weapons,” a police official said. The shelling and firing started around 9:30 am.
The 2003 India-Pakistan ceasefire agreement has virtually become redundant with over 300 incidents of firing and shelling along LoC and International Border in Jammu and Kashmir by Pakistani troops that resulted in death of 27 people, including 14 security personnel, since the surgical strike on terrorist launch pads in PoK on September 28-29.
(with inputs from PTI and IANS)