India on Saturday summoned the Charge d’Affaires of the High Commission for Pakistan and lodged a strong protest against the ceasefire violation along the Line of Control that resulted in the loss of lives of several Indian citizens on Friday.
“India condemns, in the strongest terms, the deliberate targeting of innocent civilians by Pakistani forces. It is highly deplorable that Pakistan chose a festive occasion in India to disrupt peace and perpetrate violence in J&K through coordinated firing along the length of the LoC using heavy caliber weapons, including artillery and mortar, on Indian civilians,” said the Ministry of External Affairs in a statement summing up the communication to Aftab Hassan Khan, the current Charge d’Affaires of the High Commission for Pakistan here.
The statement declared that the firing from the Pakistani side had claimed the lives of four Indian citizens and caused serious injuries to 19 others. The weekend’s ceasefire violation by Pakistan forces came weeks after India said that the Pakistan military had carried out 3,800 ceasefire violation till October.
On October 22, the official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs Anurag Srivastava had pointed out that the ceasefire violations were aimed at facilitating cross-border infiltration of terror modules from Pakistani territory to Kashmir.
Maintaining the link between ceasefire violations by Pakistan and its alleged support to cross-border terrorism, the MEA said, “India also strongly protested Pakistan’s continued support to cross-border terrorist infiltration into India, including through supporting cover fire provided by Pakistan forces.”