While world battles coronavirus, Pakistan busy violating ceasefire in Jammu and Kashmir

Srinagar: Pakistan violated the ceasefire agreement yet again on Thursday while the rest of the world is busy battling the deadly coronavirus contagion. Indian troops said they retaliated to Pakistani firing at the Line of Control in north Kashmir’s Uri sector on Thursday afternoon.

Locals said the firing went on for a couple of hours in the afternoon and damaged a house which was hit by a shell fired by the Pakistani side, however, no loss of life was reported.

The Indian Army blamed Pakistan for the ceasefire violation and said the Indian forces manning the LoC retaliated to Pakistani firing.

The locals claimed that several mortar shells landed in the villages of Mothal, Silikote, Hatlthanga and Churunda, all located on the zero line.

The latest ceasefire violation spread panic in the villages in Uri, especially those close to the LoC.

Irshad Ahmad, a resident of Uri said the firing continued for two hours. “The fresh firing has spread panic in the villages, unfortunately when the world is engulfed in disease Covid -19 and fighting it out to save mankind, here Pakistani soldiers are targeting pickets,” said Ahmad.

Since the revocation of article 370, Pakistan has regularly violated the ceasefire agreement with an aim to push militants into the valley, the Indian Army has said on several occasions.

Indian intelligence authorities also suspect the involvement of Pakistan’s intelligence services in the attack on a Gurdwara in Kabul early Wednesday morning that killed at least 28 people. The involvement of the ISI backed Haqqani network has not been ruled out despite the banned Islamic State (IS) taking the responsibility for the attack.