Even after the Indian Army has strongly retaliated to the ‘unprovoked’ incidents of firing and demolished some structures of the Pakistani Army along the line of Control in Poonch sector the Pak guns have not fallen silent. They continue to target the civilian population in the area with impunity and provoke strong Indian reaction.
According to official sources, ever since the ceasefire agreement was signed between India and Pakistan on November 26, 2003 it has been violated more than 400 times by Pakistan. If we assume that on each day at least one ceasefire violation took place during the period then it can also be safely assumed that in the last one decade Pak Army has violated ceasefire agreement for over one year.
In the wake of mounting tensions on the loC the ceasefire agreement is inching closer to collapsing as the trust deficit between the neighboring countries has also increased and the dialogue process has already been put on hold following harsh diplomatic exchanges. The patience of the Indian army is also running thin especially when the Pak army is not showing signs of calling off truce and bent upon escalating the tensions in the region.
On Monday Pak army once again violated ceasefire agreement in Mendhar sector of Poonch at around 2.35 p.m by targeting the forward Indian posts. This is the 27th incident of ceasefire violation in the area in last 11 days. Pak army is concentrating in the area as it is occupying high altitude features and is in commanding position. According to reports, initially the Pak army used small arms to target the Indian posts.After some time when the Indian troops retaliated strongly and effectively the Pak army graduated to the use of high calibre weapons and even directed their fire towards the civilian population in the area.
late Sunday night Pak army had targeted at least one dozen forward Indian posts and five forward villages triggering panic reaction in the area. Confirming the report of fresh incident of ceasefire violation PRO Defence Col RK Palta said, “the ceasefire violation was reported in the Mendhar sector at around 2.35 p.m”. He said the Pak army used small arms and automatic weapons to target the forward posts. He said the firing was still going on in the area till last reports came in. After the ceasefire agreement was signed in November 2003 the Pak army exercised restraint. After a gap of 14 long month the first ceasefire violation took place on January 18, 2005 in Poonch sector. Two days after another ceasefire violation was reported and since then the violations have recorded an upward trend.
The highest number of 93 ceasefire violations in a calender year were reported in 2012. This year already more than 80 ceasefire violations have been reported so far, official sources said. If you look at the picture at the micro level the first three years of ceasefire agreement were near peaceful. People living in border areas reaped rich harvest as normalcy returned gradually and peace process with the neighboring country was given added momentum with the start of the bus service and opening of trade routes to facilitate free movement of goods and people across the line of control.Since first week of August the Indo-Pak trade and peace bus service has been suspended amid escalating tensions. The visitors from PoK and India have been stranded in the company of their hosts on either side of the loC.