Four civilians, Pakistan soldier martyred in cross-border Indian firing

ISLAMABAD: Four civilians and a Pakistan army soldier have been martyred in cross-border shelling by Indian borders troops in Azad Kashmir, the military’s media wing said.

According to the ISPR, Indian border forces targeted civilian population in Neelum, Jhelum and Bagh valleys on Friday.

Twenty two others were wounded in the Neelum Valley region.

Pakistan army said that it had given a befitting reply to India’s provocative act and targeted their posts.

“Deaths and damage are being reported from across the Neelum Valley,” said Safeer Butt, the official.

Muhammad Shakoor, 50, a resident of Balkote village in India-administered Kashmir, who lost three of his neighbours in Friday’s shelling, told Al Jazeera that “they continue to live in fear”.

“People only remember about us when we die. We live this death every day,” he told Al Jazeera over phone.

“The government is not providing us bunkers so that we could save ourselves during the shelling. We are caught between the bullets of two sides. Neither do we sleep nor we find any peace here”.

Pakistan’s foreign ministry has summoned a senior Indian diplomat to protest against the killings in Pakistan-administered Kashmir by Indian shelling, according to a statement.

The Indian diplomat was summoned to the foreign ministry in the Pakistani capital Islamabad to “underscore[e] that such senseless acts are in clear violation of the 2003 Ceasefire Understanding, and against all established humanitarian norms and professional military conduct”, the statement said.

A day earlier, at least one Pakistani civilian, 55-year-old Muhammad Bashir, was killed due to Indian shelling the Rakhchikhri sector of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, about 80km (50 miles) southeast of the regional capital Muzaffarabad.

Three other civilians were wounded in Indian shelling in the village of Samni, roughly 150km (93 miles) southeast of Muzaffarabad, Pakistan’s foreign ministry said.

“As a result, substantial losses, both in terms of men and material, have been incurred on to Indian troops which have also been accepted by Indian media,” read the ISPR statement. It said that a Pakistani soldier was also martyred in the clash.

On the other hand, the Indian media reported that at least four Indian soldiers and three civilians were killed in Indian-held Kashmir due to firing by Pakistani soldiers.