Pakistani troops violate ceasefire for 8th night, residents near LoC begin readying bunkers

Jammu/Srinagar: Pakistani troops resorted to unprovoked firing along the Line of Control (LoC) and International Border (IB) in five districts of Jammu and Kashmir, prompting retaliation from the Indian Army, officials said on Friday.

This is the eighth consecutive night of unprovoked firing along the LoC, amid heightened tensions following the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam in which 26 people were killed.

Civilians living along the LoC and IB have begun cleaning their community and individual bunkers to make them habitable in case shelling happens.

“During the night of May 1-2, 2025, Pakistani Army posts resorted to unprovoked small arms fire from posts across the LoC opposite Kupwara, Baramulla, Poonch, Naushera, and Akhnoor areas of Jammu and Kashmir,” a defence spokesperson in Jammu said.

Indian Army troops responded in a calibrated and proportionate manner, the spokesperson added.

Initially beginning with unprovoked small arms firing at several posts along the LoC in Kupwara and Baramulla districts of north Kashmir, Pakistan swiftly expanded its ceasefire violations to the Poonch sector and subsequently to the Akhnoor sector of the Jammu region.

This was followed by small arms firing at several posts along the LoC in the Sunderbani and Naushera sectors of Rajouri district. Subsequently, the firing expanded to the Pargwal sector along the International Border in Jammu district.

The renewed ceasefire violations come despite a recent hotline conversation between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of India and Pakistan, during which the Indian side is learnt to have cautioned Pakistan.

Since the night of April 24, just hours after India suspended the Indus Waters Treaty following terror attack in Pahalgam, Pakistani troops have been resorting to unprovoked firing at various places along the LoC in J&K, starting from the Kashmir Valley.

Pakistan blocked its airspace for Indian airlines, closed the Wagah border crossing, suspended all trade with India, and warned that any attempt to divert water would be considered an "act of war".

The ceasefire along the borders was reaffirmed in February 2021, when both countries agreed to observe the 2003 agreement in letter and spirit. However, the current situation marks a significant departure from the relative calm maintained since then.

India shares a total of 3,323 km of border with Pakistan, divided into three parts: the International Border (IB), approximately 2,400 km from Gujarat to the northern banks of the Chenab River in Akhnoor, Jammu; the Line of Control (LoC), 740 km long, running from parts of Jammu to parts of Leh; and the Actual Ground Position Line (AGPL), 110 km long, dividing the Siachen region from NJ 9842 to Indira Col in the north.

Civilians living along the LoC and International Border started getting their community and individual bunkers cleaned to make them habitable in case of an escalation to shelling.

The Union government sanctioned the construction of 14,460 individual and community bunkers in 2017. Over 8,600 community and individual bunkers have been built in five districts: Samba, Kathua, Jammu, Poonch, and Rajouri, officials said.

While harvesting of crops along R S Pura and Arnia sectors along the IB has been completed, it is still going on in Kathua, Samba, Rajouri, and Poonch districts.

"This is being done in view of the tensions along the borders," an official said.