More than 80,000 people have been affected, prompting Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti to call for an immediate cessation of hostilities, and revival of the 2003 Confidence Building Measures (CBMs).
Five people were killed and 30 others injured in fresh Pakistani shelling along the International Border (IB) in Jammu division in the last 24 hours. More than 80,000 people have been affected, prompting Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti to call for an immediate cessation of hostilities, and revival of the 2003 Confidence Building Measures (CBMs).
Pakistan Rangers targeted the entire IB from Kathua to RS Pura, pounding deep into civilian areas. They have been using long-range weapons to inflict maximum damage. J&K DGP Dr Shesh Paul Vaid called the action very sad.
"Affected people have been asked to shift. Some of them have moved to their relatives. Around 1,800 people are in our shelter homes," said Jammu's Divisional Commissioner, Hemant Kumar Sharma. Mufti said it is the life and property of the people of J&K which are in the line of fire. "Every bullet or a mortar shell hits only the residents of this state on either side," she said.
"The terrible images of an eight-month-old child with bullet wounds is perhaps not enough to shake the conscience of the humanity in the region and put an end to this senseless bloodletting. Both countries shall have end this hostility to safeguard the lives of the people", she said.
She said more than a decade and a half ago, then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had opened a new chapter in the history of India and Pakistan by responding to the urge for peace and dignified resolution during his historic visit to Srinagar in 2003.
"The peace process had yielded momentous dividends in the shape of a ceasefire along the borders from Kargil to Kathua, opening up of cross-LoC routes for passenger traffic," she said.
She regretted that a lack of follow-up actions pushed not only the confidence-building measures under the carpet but also put the peace process on the back-burner. "And the result is there for everybody to see," she said.
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