Ceasefire agreement between India, Pakistan shows result; no incident of cross-firing along LoC in March

NEW DELHI: The ceasefire agreement between India and Pakistan is showing results as per latest statistics which show that March did not witness even a single incident of cross-firing along the International Border as well as the Line of Control, this newspaper has learned.

This year, a total of 66 cross-border firing incidents have taken place but all such incidents took place in the first two months-44 in January and 22 in February, according to sources in security establishment.

A BSF personnel was also injured in January during one such incident.

Official data reveals that ceasefire violations have been increasing drastically from 2018 to 2020. In 2018, 2,140 ceasefire violations took place, which further increased in 2019 (3,479) but saw a massive jump in 2020 where such violations were 5,133 in which 46 security force personnel were killed.

On February 25, India and Pakistan released a joint statement announcing a ceasefire along LoC from February 25, following talks between their Directors General of Military Operations. While there have been zero incidents of cross-border firing in March, there has been no let-up in smuggling of drugs along the entire 3323-km IB as well as along 740-km LoC, despite strict vigil being maintained by security agencies.

Last week, the union ministry of home affairs had informed parliament that terror attacks, incidents of violence and infiltration attempts in Jammu and Kashmir have come down in the last two years, but ceasefire violations have been on the rise.

During the past three years, there has been a significant decline in terror incidents and attempts of infiltration from across the border in Jammu and Kashmir.

Reddy said the terror incidents in Jammu and Kashmir have come down from 614 in 2018 to 244 in 2020. He further said killings of civilians have come down from 39 in 2018 to 37 in 2020 and deaths of security personnel from 91 in 2018 to 62 in 2020.