1547 ceasefire violations by Pakistan reported this year along LoC

There has been a huge surge in ceasefire violations by Pakistan along the Line on Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir with 1,547 instances reported in the first four and half months of this year.

The highest number of violations were reported in March with Pakistan violating 2003-ceasefire agreement 411 times, official figures reveal. In January, 367 violations took place while 366 were reported in February. April saw 387 ceasefire violations, while this month so-far 16 instances were reported.

Pakistani troops had made the highest number of ceasefire violations since 2003 along the J&K border in 2019, amounting to over 3,200 instances or an average of nine such violations daily.

The Government of India led by then Prime Minister late Atal Bihari Vajpayee had entered into a border ceasefire agreement with Pakistan along the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir on November 26, 2003. However, according to officials, shelling and firing by Pakistani troops since last year is so heavy that virtually it has made the 2003 truce redundant.

An official in the security grid said that the ceasefire violations are expected to increase in the coming months as summer is the peak infiltration period from across the LoC in J&K.

“In June and July, snow melts at the passes which is an indication that infiltration may go up. We expect a rise in infiltration attempts as this year so far a major infiltration bid was foiled in April alone in which five militants were killed in Keran sector of north Kashmir’s Kupwara district,” he said.

Another security official said that though the terrain and topography along the LoC in Kashmir is difficult, troops are maintaining the highest level of vigil to thwart all the possible infiltration bids being made from across. “Heightened vigil is being maintained at the traditional infiltration routes in north Kashmir’s Gurez, Keran, Uri, Machil and Tandghar sectors,” he said.

The official said besides helping infiltration, Pakistani troops repeatedly target forward posts and villages along the LoC and the International Border (IB) to create a fear psychosis among the people.

India shares a 3,323-km-long border with Pakistan, of which 221 km of the IB and 740 km of the LoC fall in Jammu and Kashmir.