Three civilians, including a 15-year-old boy and a 20-year-old girl, were killed in what Army said was unprovoked firing by Pakistani troops from across the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir’s Uri sector on Tuesday.
The Army officials said that the heavy calibre weapon fire came from a Pakistani forward post opposite Churunda village in the frontier region of Baramulla district. The slain civilians have been identified as Mohammad Liaquat,15, Ms Shaheebna, 20, and Mohammad Shafiq, 32. “They targeted a cluster of private houses in the village with heavy calibre weapons at 10.30 am on Tuesday killing the civilians,” a defence spokesperson said in Srinagar. He added, “Keeping the danger to the lives of other civilians of the nearby villages in view, Indian Army chose not to escalate the situation by retaliating.”
The Army also claimed that Pakistani troops deployed along the de facto border opposite Uri sector have been carrying out unprovoked firing since October 3. “Indian troops have been exercising maximum restraint because of the ceasefire agreement that is in place between the two sides since November 2003,” a release issued by the Srinagar-based 15 (Chinar) Army Corps said.
On both sides of the LoC, civilians live in close proximity to the LoC and any firing by troops affects the local population. “Keeping the safety of the civil population in view, Indian troops did not retaliate as the same would have escalated the situation resulting into more casualties among the innocent people,” the release reiterated. It added, “However, the issue is being taken up on hotline with our Pakistani counterparts (seek) to warn their troops not to resort to firing at the villages in future.”
There has been no word on the allegations from Islamabad so far.