ISLAMABAD: A 10-year-old girl was killed and four civilians suffered serious injuries after the Indian forces resorted to indiscriminate and unprovoked firing along the Line of Control, a Foreign Office press release said on Sunday.

The FO summoned the Indian Charge d'Affaires Gaurav Ahluwalia to register protest over the recent ceasefire violation on the night between September 11 and 12 in the Hotspring and Rakhchikri sectors of the LoC, which resulted in the killing of a 10-year-old girl from village Dera Sahib Zadian.

A teenaged boy and an elderly woman from the same village were seriously injured as were a four-year-old boy and a 40-year-old man from Degwar village.

According to the statement, the Indian forces have been "targeting civilian populated areas with artillery fire, heavy-calibre mortars and automatic weapons" along the LoC and the Working Boundary. This year, the Indian side has committed 2,225 ceasefire violations, in which 18 people have died and at least 176 civilians have been injured, FO said.

The Foreign Office emphasised that such "senseless acts" were a violation of the 2003 ceasefire understanding as well as "humanitarian norms and professional military conduct".

"These egregious violations of international law reflect consistent Indian attempts to escalate the situation along the LoC and are a threat to regional peace and security," the press release read. It further stated that the violations "cannot divert attention from the grave human situation" in Indian occupied Kashmir.

The Foreign Office called upon the Indian side to investigate the recent, as well as previous, incidents of ceasefire violations. It also stressed that the Indian forces must maintain peace along the LoC and Working Boundary.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020