Barely three days after suspending peace talks with India, Pakistan on Sunday shattered peace prevailing along the line of control (loC) in frontier Poonch district of Jammu region by resorting to ‘unprovoked’ firing.
The first ceasefire violation of year 2016 was reported after a gap of less than five months. Panic stricken local residents in the area could not sleep as several forward posts were pounded by the Pak Army to escalate tensions in the area.
According to a senior officer of Nagrota based 16 corps headquarters, “the ceasefire violation could have been aimed at aiding an infiltration bid by heavily armed terrorists. “We have received inputs that heavily-armed terrorists are waiting at various launching pads to infiltrate across either the IB or loC and the unprovoked ceasefire violation could have been aimed at aiding such a bid,” the officer said.
According to Jammu based Defence spokesman lt Col Manish Mehta, “The Pakistan Army resorted to unprovoked ceasefire violation along the line of Control (loC) in the Poonch sector of Jammu region in the wee hours of sunday”.
He said the Pakistan Army resorted to heavy mortar and automatic weapon fire in the Shahpur area of Poonch sector from about midnight to 0430 hours.
“Our troops responded appropriately and no casualties or damage to our troops was reported,” the spokesman added.
Pakistani High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit on April 7 had claimed the bilateral peace process between the two neighbours stood suspended. He also indicated that the team of National Investigation Agency (NIA) probing Pathankot airbase attack was unlikely to be allowed to Pakistan to carry out investigations after the visit of Pakistans Joint Interrogation Team (JIT) to India.
The last incident of ceasefire violation was reported on November 23, 2015 in Nowshera sector of Rajouri.
According to official sources in the Defence Ministry, “16 civilians were killed and 71 others injured in 405 incidents of cross-border firing by Pakistan in 2015.
While 253 incidents of ceasefire violations took place along the International Border (IB), 152 incidents were reported along the loC.
Earlier BSF jawans had detected a 50 metre long cross border tunnel near Allah Mai De Kothi BoP along the international border in RS Pura sector of Jammu frontier on March 3, 2016.