2,000 plus and counting: Pakistan violates ceasefire once again

New Delhi, Dec 01: The Pakistan army on Saturday targeted forward posts and villages along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district, violating the ceasefire for the second consecutive day, a defence spokesperson said. This has taken the number of ceasefire violations to over 2,500 this year alone.

"Pakistan initiated the unprovoked ceasefire violation with small arms firing and mortar shelling at about 3.30 pm along the LoC in Shahpur and Kirni sectors of Poonch," the spokesperson said.

Pakistan resorted to small arms firing and mortar shelling on Friday too on forward areas along the LoC in nearby Balakote sector, triggering "effective retaliation" by India, which continued from 8.30 pm to 9.15 pm.

Worrying numbers:

This year, according to officials, Pakistan has violated the ceasefire along the LoC over 2,500 times.

India has repeatedly called upon Pakistan to ask its forces to adhere to the 2003 ceasefire agreement between the two countries to maintain peace along the LoC and the International Border.

The violations come in the backdrop of a report stating that nearly 500 terrorists are waiting in various training camps along the Line of Control in Pak-occupied Kashmir, looking for opportunities to sneak into Jammu and Kashmir.

A top official said 200 to 300 terrorists are operating in the hinterlands of J&K to keep the region in turmoil with Pakistan's support.

"As far as terrorists operating within Jammu and Kashmir is concerned, 200 to 300 terrorists, who have come here, joined terrorists here," Northern Command chief Lt Gen Ranbir Singh told reporters here.

Singh said this it in reply to questions about the number of terrorists operating in J&K and those in PoK ready to infiltrate into the country.

"Like this, nearly 500 terrorists are staged in terrorists' training camps in PoK and are ready to infiltrate into J&K," said Lt Gen Singh.

He said these figures keep changing as per their training schedule. "Whatever be the number, we are capable to stop and eliminate them to ensure peace and normalcy in this region," he added.

The Army commander said it is always their endeavour to ensure peace and normalcy in J&K.

"But Pakistan keeps trying to do some mischief to disturb the peace here. Even today terror infrastructure is being run within Pakistan (by its forces and agencies). These include training as launching pad for terrorists to infiltrate into the country," he added.