Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, June 14: An Army jawan was martyred and two others were injured when Pakistani troops opened fire and shelled areas along the Line of Control (LoC) in Kirni sector of Poonch district early today.
The jawan is the third Army personnel to be martyred in Pakistani firing and shelling on forward posts and villages in the twin districts of Poonch and Rajouri this month.
“Pakistan army resorted to unprovoked ceasefire violation on the LoC in Kirni sector of Poonch district in early hours of this morning. Our troops responded strongly to the enemy fire and in the incident, Sepoy Lungambui Abonmei was critically injured and later attained martyrdom,” a Defence spokesman said.
He said Sepoy Abonmei was a brave, highly motivated and a sincere soldier.
“The nation will always remain indebted to him for his supreme sacrifice and devotion to duty,” the spokesman said.
Sources said two more soldiers, Sepoy Lienkhothien Senghon and Sepoy Tangsoik Kwianiungar, were injured in the firing and subsequently airlifted to the Army base hospital in Udhampur.
The mortal remains of the martyr were handed over to his unit after postmortem at district hospital Poonch and are being dispatched to his home town in Assam with full military honours for last rites.
They said the casualties suffered by the Pakistani army in the retaliatory action were not known immediately. However, there were casualties as well as infrastructural damage on Pakistan side.
On June 4, Havaldar P Mathiazhagan was martyred in Pakistani firing in Sunderbani sector of Rajouri district, while on June 10, Naik Gurcharan Singh lost his life in a similar incident in Rajouri sector.
As many as 2027 ceasefire violations by Pakistan have taken place along the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir till June 10 this year, an increase of almost 69 per cent as compared to the same period in 2019, officials said.
The increased violations are being viewed by senior security officials as an attempt by Pakistan to provide fire cover to militants trying to sneak from across the border to keep the pot boiling.
The year 2019 witnessed a total of 3,168 ceasefire violations against 1,629 in 2018.
“A total of 2027 ceasefire violations took place this year till June 10, with the highest number of 411 violations taking place in March,” sources said.
They said January recorded 367 ceasefire violations, February (366), April (387) and May (382), while the first 10 days of June saw 114 incidents of firing and shelling from Pakistan.
Against this, 926 ceasefire violations took place in the same period in 2019 with the highest 267 reported in March followed by 234 in April, 221 in May, 215 in February, 203 in January and 60 till June 10 last year.
Since the revoking of special status to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 and the bifurcation of the erstwhile State into two Union Territories in August last year, Pakistan has been violating the ceasefire on an average of 11 times daily, the official said.
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