Pak summons senior Indian diplomat over ‘ceasefire violations’

Islamabad: Pakistan Monday summoned India’s Deputy High Commissioner J P Singh and condemned the “unprovoked ceasefire violations” by Indian troops across the Line of Control which resulted in the death of a civilian.
Director General (South Asia and SAARC) Mohammad Faisal, who is also the foreign ministry spokesman, summoned Singh and “condemned the unprovoked ceasefire violations by the Indian forces along the Line of Control,” the Foreign Office (FO) said in a statement
The firing in the Bagsar Sector along the LoC resulted in the death of a civilian and injured a woman, it said.
Faisal said that the Indian forces along the LoC and the Working boundary are “continuously targeting civilian populated areas with heavy weapons.”
“This unprecedented escalation in ceasefire violations by India is continuing from the year 2017 when the Indian forces committed 1970 ceasefire violation,” it alleged.
“The deliberate targeting of civilian populated areas is indeed deplorable and contrary to human dignity, international human rights and humanitarian laws. The ceasefire violations by India are a threat to regional peace and security and may lead to a strategic miscalculation,” the statement said.
Faisal urged the Indian side to respect the 2003 Ceasefire arrangement; investigate this and other incidents of ceasefire violations; instruct the Indian forces to respect the ceasefire, in letter and spirit and maintain peace on the LoC and the Working Boundary.
The Pakistan Army confirmed the killing of a civilian and said the Indian forces resorted to unprovoked firing targeting the civilian population.
It said Pakistan Army troops responded effectively to those posts targeting civil population.
He urged that the Indian side should permit UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) to play its mandated role as per the UN Security Council resolutions.
India maintains that UNMOGIP has outlived its utility and is irrelevant after the Simla Agreement and the consequent establishment of the LoC.