Man killed as Indian troops target civilians

A man was killed on Wednesday in an incident of cross-border firing across the Working Boundary on Wednesday, according to a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR). “Indian troops initiated unprovoked ceasefire violations using mortars and automatics and targeted the innocent civilian population along [the] Working Boundary in [the] Phuklian sector,” the ISPR said. The Pakistan Rangers “effectively responded and targeted Indian posts firing on [the] civilian population,” the statement added. Muhammad Zahoor, a resident of Dewra village, was killed in the cross-border exchange of fire, ISPR said. The heavily militarised LoC and Working Boundary have witnessed sporadic skirmishes and artillery du- els since the alleged Indian ‘surgical strike’ last September, in violation of the 2003 Ceasefire Agreement signed by both countries. Earlier this month, a five-year-old girl was killed in Azad Jammu and Kashmir when an Indian soldier opened fire across the Line of Control. The orphan was killed when a single bullet by an Indian soldier hit her as she stood in the courtyard of her house in Polas village of Abbaspur sector in the southern Poonch district. Protests were held in the area against the “apathy of the state and the government towards the plight of the people living along the LoC” after the incident.