Pakistan has categorically rejected Indian media reports that Indian troops targeted the so-called terrorist launchpads on the Pakistani side of the Line of Control in Kashmir and instead the Foreign Ministry in Islamabad lambasted India over its killing of civilians.
In a statement on Sunday, the Foreign Office said Indian Charge d’Affaires Gaurav Ahluwalia had been summoned by Dr Muhammad Faisal, Director General (SA & SAARC), to register Pakistan’s protest over the unprovoked ceasefire violations by Indian forces along the Line of Control.
“The Indian occupation forces, along the LoC and Working Boundary, have continuously been targeting civilian populated areas with artillery fire, heavy caliber mortars, and automatic weapons,” read the statement.
The Times of India, citing Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawat, reported on Sunday that Indian forces killed at least six Pakistan Army soldiers in forward posts and “several terrorist launchpads.”
But Islamabad said that New Delhi is indulging in attempts to divert world attention from the reality of humanitarian crisis in Indian-administered Kashmir, which has been under siege of around nine million Indian forces since Prime Minister Narendra Modi deprived the UN-recognized disputed territory of its autonomy. Modi has defended his ultrantionalist party BJP’s move to strip Kashmir of autonomous state as a step toward bringing investment and development to the Himalayan region. But the people of Jammu and Kashmiri – who have had exclusive rights to the land- see it as an invasion of their territory. The Indian enforced blockade has lasted more than two months and people have not gotten back their basic freedoms.
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has castigated the August 5 move – which threw South Asian into a grave crisis – as fascist and Nazi thinking as it targets the eight million Kashmiris. The humanitarian disaster in Kashmir has evoked condemnations from several U.S. lawmakers and President Donald Trump has offered to mediate on the dispute in view of the standoff between the two nuclear-armed South Asian countries.
The “heinous Indian targeting of civilians is a typical attempt by India to divert international attention from the humanitarian nightmare in IOJ & K (Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir),” the foreign ministry statement added.
As for the targeting of “so-called launchpads”, Pakistan called upon the five permanent United Nations members, or P5, to press New Delhi for proof and concrete information.
Islamabad also conveyed its willingness to arrange a visit of P5 diplomats to the alleged locations “to expose Indian falsehood.”
“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 FO statement read.
Dr Faisal urged the Indian side to respect the 2003 ceasefire arrangement, investigate the numerous incidents of ceasefire violations, instruct the Indian forces to respect the agreement and maintain peace on the LoC and Working Boundary.
He also urged the Indian side to permit the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) to perform its mandated role as per the UN Security Council Resolutions.
