#IIOJKUnderSiege: 18-year-old girl martyred in Indian firing across LoC

An 18-year-old girl was martyred in Indian army’s unprovoked firing on civilian population across the Line of Control in Azad Kashmir on Wednesday.

According to a statement issued by the ISPR, the Indian army troops initiated the unprovoked ceasefire violation along LoC targeting civil population in Hot Spring Sector. An 18-year-old girl, a resident of Fatehpur village, embraced Shahadat while six innocent people including two women and two girls got injured in Fatehpur and Tahi villages.

Pakistan Army troops responded effectively and targeted those Indian posts which initiated the fire. 

According to the ISPR, the Indian troops committed 1,877 ceasefire violations this year so far in which 15 innocent civilians including six women and five children were martyred while 144 people got injured including 46 women and 37 children.

The firing incident happened at a time when Pakistan was marking Youm-e-Istehsal across the country as a token of protest against India's illegal move that changed the status of Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK).

Pakistan has categorically rejected the statement made by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Pakistan’s political map. “Through sophistry and obfuscation, India cannot create a smokescreen for its illegal and unacceptable actions in Indian occupied Jammu & Kashmir, including those taken since 5 August 2019,” Foreign Office Spokesperson said. 

“India has been in illegal occupation of parts of Jammu & Kashmir since 1947 and has continuously violated UN Security Council resolutions for decades. Despite its brutal suppression of Kashmiris for over 72 years, India has been unable to force them into submission,” FO said. 

In the wake of one year of India’s illegal and unilateral measures of August 5, 2019, in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has once again written to the President of the UN Security Council sharing additional information on India’s continuing massive violations of human rights in occupied Jammu and Kashmir, its attempt to change demography, and its escalating ceasefire violations and rhetoric against Pakistan which together pose a threat to regional and international peace and security.

On 29 July a senior Indian diplomat was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to register Pakistan’s strong protest over the ceasefire violations by the Indian occupation forces along the Line of Control (LoC) on 28 July, resulting in serious injuries to three innocent civilians.

Due to indiscriminate and unprovoked firing by the Indian occupation forces in Rakhchikri Sector of the LoC, Farida Bibi w/o Muhammad Nazeer; Alam Bibi w/o Akram Hussain; and Safeer s/o Noor Din, residents of Village Akhori, sustained serious injuries.

Foreign Office condemned the deplorable targeting of innocent civilians by the Indian occupation forces, it was underscored that such senseless acts are in clear violation of the 2003 Ceasefire Understanding, and are also against all established humanitarian norms and professional military conduct. 

It was added that by raising tensions along the LoC and the WB, India cannot divert attention from the grave human rights situation in the Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJ&K).

The Indian side was also urged to allow the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) to play its mandated role as per the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolutions.