Three soldiers killed in LoC firing

ISLAMABAD: At least three Pakistani soldiers were killed when Indian forces resorted to unprovoked firing along the Line of Control (LoC) on Monday, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement.

The latest ceasefire violation happened in Thoob sector near Bhimber, said the military’s media wing.

As a result of the firing, three soldiers including Naik Ghulam Rasool, Naik Imran Zafar and Sepoy Imam Bukhsh embraced ‘Shahadat.’

The military’s media wing earlier reported that the three were critically injured.

Pakistan responded to the Indian firing effectively causing casualties, the ISPR said.

The latest incident is likely to further ratchet up tensions between the two neighbours, whose relations have been strained for months.

In recent days, the LoC and Working Boundary has seen renewed shelling after a relative calm for few weeks especially after the change of command in the Pakistan Army. The return of frequent exchanges suggested that the two neighbors are far from returning to normalcy at any time soon. Pakistan believes that India is keeping the LoC tense in order to avoid world’s attention towards the current uprising in Indian controlled Kashmir.

The disputed Himalayan region has been in the grip of violence ever since prominent Kashmiri youth leader Bhurhan Wani was killed in a police encounter in July last year. The relations between the two countries came to head when militants stormed the Indian military base in Kashmir, killing 19 soldiers in September. India, accusing a Pakistan based militant outfit of being behind the attack, claimed to have carried out surgical strikes inside Azad Kashmir.

Islamabad dismissed the Indian claims as baseless and Pakistan Army took local and foreign journalists to the forward position in order to expose the so-called ‘surgical strikes.’

Published in The Express Tribune, February 14^th, 2017.