J&K: 2 Army jawans killed in Pak firing along LoC in Kupwara

Srinagar: Two Army men were killed in the latest ceasefire violation by the Pakistani troops along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kupwara district on Wednesday.

Army officials in Srinagar said Lance Naik L N Ranjit Singh and Rifleman Satish Bhagat were killed in the Pakistani firing in Furkiya area of Chowkibal. They belonged to the Army’s Jammu and Kashmir Rifles.

Defence spokesman Colonel Rajesh Kalia added that the Pakistani troops initiated firing at 2.20 pm “without any provocation”. 

“The ceasefire violation was retaliated to strongly and befittingly,” he said.

The 745-km LoC has witnessed multiple incidents of ceasefire violation in recent weeks. After each clash between the Indian and Pakistani troops, the two sides blamed each other for initiating the firing. Several civilians and soldiers on the two sides have lost their lives in the exchanges of fire.

Earlier this week, a jawan of the Territorial Army Muhammad Showkat and his wife Safia Bi were killed and their three daughters Zaida Kouser (6), Robina Kouser (12) and Nazia Bi and another person were injured when a mortar fired by the Pakistani troops exploded near their home in Karmara village of the Poonch sector.

The same day, the Pakistani authorities reported death of five civilians and injuries to a score others in the Indian firing and shelling in Chirikot, Satwal and other sectors on their side of the de facto border. 

India’s deputy high commissioner J P Singh was summoned by Pakistan’s Director-General (South Asia and SAARC) Muhammad Faisal to the Foreign Office in Islamabad for the second consecutive day on July 9 over the alleged ceasefire violations by the Indian troops along the LoC.

However, the Indian have countered the Pakistani claims and said there have been as many as two dozen incidents of ceasefire violation by Pakistani troops, an attack by Pakistan special forces’ team and two infiltration bids in past one month, in which eight people including five Army jawans were killed and 12 were injured in Jammu and Kashmir.

Meanwhile, a report from Muzaffarabad said that hundreds of border dwellers have fled their homes in Abbaspur sector of the other side of the LoC and relocated to Abbaspur town (Poonch) where they have been accommodated in a government building during past few days to escape skirmishes between the facing armies. 

The trade between Poonch (Jammu and Kashmir) and Rawalakote (PoK) through Chakan Da Bagh corridor remains suspended due to persisting tensions.