Fayaz Bukhari
SRINAGAR, Nov 8: As Pakistan today made fresh ceasefire violation in Charunda village in Hajipeer sector of North Kashmir this afternoon, General Officer Commanding (GOC) of Baramulla based 19-Divison of the Army, Major General Bipin Rawat, said that continued ceasefire violations in the village is aimed at infiltrating militants into Kashmir valley ahead of winter.
Pakistani troops, who mostly fire during the night and early in the morning after they see movement near a forward post, which Army is renovating and safeguarding from Pakistani gun fire.
Pakistani troops fired at the forward post this afternoon at around 2 p.m. forcing the people to take shelter in their houses and behind the rocks. Pakistan began ceasefire violations on September 12 soon after Army started renovations of their bunkers ahead of winter. Since then it has become a routine.
The GOC said that Pakistani firing is aimed at diverting Army’s attention towards the ceasefire violations area so as to infiltrate militants from other areas of Uri sector. He said that Army is keeping a tight vigil at the non-ceasefire violation areas of the sector to stop any infiltration. He said that large number of militants are waiting in Neelam valley in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) for infiltration.
The Army Commander said that Pakistani troops should understand that by ceasefire violations they are not gaining anything but it is troubling the people living along both the sides of the Line of Control (LoC).
The GOC said: “We fired back on Pakistani troop positions early this week to silence Pakistani guns. We fired on Pakistani posts only with utmost restrain as the posts are inside the village. But at the same time we want to limit this ceasefire violations in Churanda village only.”
Army said that the ceasefire violations in the village is a daily affair since September, and on October 16 Pakistani troops killed 3 civilians in the village after a mortar shell hit a residential house.
The General said that Army lodged protests with their Pakistani counterparts several times since September against the ceasefire violations but Pakistan disowned ceasefire violations. “We were also interested in Flag meeting. Since they disowned any violations it didn’t materialize”, he added.
For Churanda village that is right on the LoC ahead of fence erected after 2003 LoC ceasefire between India and Pakistan, the good old days of peace seems to have ended.
The ceasefire of 2003 brought peace to the village along with other villages situated on either side of the 740 kilometers long LoC in the troubled State of Jammu and Kashmir. Around 1300 population of this village is again at the receiving end of the Pakistani firing.
Mohammad Karim Koli, 62, lives with his wife and octogenarian mother-in-law just near an Army post in the village. Most of the time, they are inside their home as the threat to life due to continued firing looms for nearly 2 months now.
The studies of 241 children studying in one-middle and three-Primary Schools of the village have been affected. Schools opened today after two days but again closed in the afternoon after Pakistani troops opened fire on an Army post.
For past one month, agriculture – the mainstay of the economy of the village- has been hard hit. The village mostly grows corn and it is difficult for the farmers to venture out for farming. However, the farmers risk their lives to do farming but treading towards the zero line is dangerous.
The villagers have been urging the Government and Army for taking up the ceasefire violations issue with Pakistan but Pakistan has been denying any violations. For 1300 odd population of the village life is on the powder keg.
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