Regular incidents of ceasefire violations and cross border shelling along the line of Control (loC) in Rajouri and Poonch districts has caused lot of anxiety among the members of the majority community as they have been finding it difficult to peacefully offer Ramzan prayers before breaking their day-long fast.
“It is not a good omen. Every day we have to struggle before offering Ramzan prayers. Instead of observing ceasefire during this holy month the Pakistan Army is resorting to ‘unprovoked firing’ on daily basis depriving us from breaking our day-long fast peacefully,” a villager of Mendhar tehsil told The Pioneer.
Instead of assembling in local mosques the border residents have been taking precautions to prevent any loss of life during intense mortar shelling in the area. Even during the day time as intermittent firing continues the movement of the border residents remain restricted. “We have to stay indoors due to the fear of getting caught in the cross fire”, border residents in village Dabraj of Mendhar tehsil told reporters on Monday.
The village suffered heavy losses and more than half a dozen houses were hit by mortar shells during fresh incidents of ceasefire violations on Monday. In some cases local police authorities also directed them not to venture out during Iftaar to ensure safety of border residents.
For last couple of days Pakistani Army has been targeting forward civilian areas and Indian posts using mortar shells and automatic weapons after sunset. At least 10 incidents of ceasefire violations have been reported since June 1 in the area.
Strong Indian retaliation has also unnerved Pakistani army as they too had suffered heavy causalities in the region.
On Monday Director general (South Asia and SAARC) Mohammad Faisal summoned the Indian deputy high commissioner JP Singh and “condemned the unprovoked ceasefire violations” by the Indian forces, the Pakistan Foreign Office said. It said that three civilians were killed in the firing in Chirikot and Hot Spring sectors on June 10 and June 12.
Meanwhile, Defence PRO in Jammu lt-Col Munish Mehta said, “ Indian Army is strongly retaliating in response to ‘unprovoked’ incidents of ceasefire violations along loC in Krishna Ghati and Naushera sector”.
He said the Pakistan Army is using heavy mortars, Recoilless rifles , heavy automatics and we are giving befitting reply in equal measures to them.