MUZAFFARABAD – A woman was killed while a man was left injured on Friday when Indian troops resorted to unprovoked shelling across the Line of Control (LoC) in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).
According to the officials, the casualties occurred in Poonch district’s Abasspur town which is the same area where an elderly woman was killed in firing by Indian troops two days earlier.
‘They (Indian troops) started shelling at about 7am without any provocation. Shelling has continued intermittently since,’ said Qazi Arsalan, an official at the local police station.
The 55-year-old widow of a police constable, Rashida Begum, was critically injured in Taroti Bala Galli village after shrapnel from a mortar shell hit her but she succumbed to her wounds on way to the hospital.
On the other hand, a retired junior grade employee of the education department, Abdul Aziz Shaikh, was injured after splinters pierced his left thigh in Taroti village.
Arsalan added that the victim was transferred to Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed al Nahayan Hospital after receiving initial treatment in Abbaspur.
AJK Senior Minister Chaudhry Tariq Farooq vehemently condemned Indian shelling, regretting that the Indian army’s move was a reminiscent of its blatant disregard to its commitments.
‘Despite agreeing to revive the spirit of the 2003 Ceasefire Agreement, Indian troops are constantly targeting the innocent civilian populations on our side of the LoC, which warrants serious notice by the United Nations and the international community,’ he said in a brief statement.
