Pakistani PM warns India over civilian killings on LoC

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan warned India on Sunday of a befitting response over the continued killing of civilians across the Line of Control (LoC), a de facto border that divides the Kashmir valley between Pakistan and India.

"I want to make clear to India and the international community that if India continues its military attacks killing civilians across the LoC, Pakistan will find it increasingly difficult to remain an inactive observer," Khan tweeted

He added that India may resort to a "false flag" attack.

"As Indian Occupation forces continue to target & kill civilians across the LoC with increasing intensity & frequency, there is an urgent need for UN SC [United Nations Security Council] to insist India allow UNMOGIP [United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan] return to IOJK [Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir] side of LOC," Khan said.

Khan’s statement came after the Foreign Ministry summoned Indian Charge d’affaires Gaurav Ahluwalia in Islamabad and lodged a strong protest over the cease-fire violations by Indian forces along the LoC.

"Director General South Asia and SAARC Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri underscored that such senseless Indian acts are in clear violation of the 2003 Ceasefire Understanding and in complete disregard for international human rights and international norms," state-run Radio Pakistan reported.

Due to indiscriminate and unprovoked firing by Indian forces in the Kotkotera sector of the LoC, 36-year-old Shamim Begum, a resident of Jugalpal village, sustained serious injuries.

On Dec. 12, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in a letter to the UNSC claimed that since January 2019, Indian forces had committed over 3,000 ceasefire violations targeting more than 300 civilians, including women and children.

Pakistan-India tensions

Long-fraught ties between the two nuclear rivals have plummeted to new lows following India’s scrapping of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status on Aug. 5 last year.

Many fear this step was an attempt to change the demography of the Muslim-majority state.

Since partition in 1947, the two countries have fought three wars -- in 1948, 1965 and 1971 -- two of them over Kashmir, in addition to a three-week-long skirmish in Kargil in 1999.

Some Kashmiri groups in Jammu and Kashmir have been fighting against Indian rule for independence or for unification with neighboring Pakistan.

According to several human rights organizations, thousands of people have reportedly been killed in the conflict in the region since 1989.