The Foreign Office has summoned India’s charge d’ affairs to record a protest over ceasefire violation conducted by the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) troops on May 3.
This was the first summon of the Indian envoy to the Foreign Office since February this year when Pakistan and India both went into a reiteration of the ceasefire understanding of 2003.
FO Spokesperson Zahid Hafeez confirmed that the Indian envoy was called to the Foreign Office. He said Pakistan lodged a protest against the ceasefire violation by India on the Charwa Sector of the Working Boundary. The Indian side was reminded of its obligation to respect the ceasefire understanding, he added.
Earlier, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had said that the troops from the Indian BSF post in Square-9530 located in Jammu Sector opposite to Pakistani Charwa Sector fired approximately 30 rounds of small arms and four bombs of 60 millimetre mortar at the Pakistani post in Square-9630 without any provocation.
The communiqué said that the incident happened when 15 BSF troops with three tractors crossed the Working Boundary and started ploughing on the Pakistani side. It said when Pakistan Rangers Punjab troops tried to persuade the BSF troops to return through loud hailers and whistles, the BSF troops responded by firing small arms and mortars at Pakistani post without any provocation.
It added that the same BSF post took a sniper shot at a Pakistani post with the aim to score causality. The foreign ministry lamented that to their further surprise, there was news circulating on the Indian media, accusing Pakistan of violating the ceasefire understanding reached in Feb 2021.
The Foreign Office maintained that the Indian BSF troops displayed aggressive behavior by crossing the Working Boundary and blatantly using mortars with an intent to sabotage the peace along Line of Control (LoC) and Working Boundary.
