188 Ceasefire Violations by Pakistan in 2010-2012

Bangalore: It has been less than two months since the beheading of Indian soldiers Lance Naiks Hemraj and Sudhakar, by Pakistani troops. Defence Minister A K Antony told the Lok Sabha that there have been 188 instances of ceasefire violations by Pakistan along the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir between 2010 and 2012 and three Indian Army personnel were killed in these.

In a written reply to the House, he said, "Government of India has taken up the issue of ceasefire violations with Pakistan consistently," as reported by PTI.

In 2010, Pakistan violated the ceasefire agreement with India on 44 occasions. 51 such incidents were recorded in 2011 while it peaked to 93 in 2012.

Two Army personnel were killed during these violations in 2010, followed by a single incident in 2012. A total of 16 military personnel were injured in these incidents from 2010 to 2012.

In an attack on January 8 this year, Pakistani regular soldiers crossed into Indian Territory in Poonch sector of J&K and trapped an Indian patrol killing two soldiers.

Antony said "All violations of ceasefire are taken up with Pakistan military authorities at appropriate level through established mechanism of hotline, flat meetings as well as weekly talks between the Director Generals of Military Operations."

Further, Indian Army sources have established that there have been at least 24 cases of ceasefire violations from Pakistan in just 2013. In January this year there were 20 cases of infiltration, while February had four cases, as reported by CNN IBN.

Army sources have also said that approximately there are at least 550 militants in training camps across the Line of Control in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

(With PTI inputs)

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