| Ceasefire violations with Pak double in 2019, tally over 1,500 since abrogation of Article 370 | | |
New Delhi , Dec 27
Ceasefire violations at the Line of Control (LoC) doubled this year as there were frequent skirmishes between the Indian and the Pakistani armies and half of these accounted for the period since the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir on August 5, 2019.
There have been 3,200 violations this year, a huge spike from the previous two years. While 1,610 ceasefire violations were recorded in 2018, in 2017 the tally was 1,000. Out of the 3,200 cases of ceasefire violations, 1,553 took place since August 5.
In the last few days, there has been a frequent exchange of fire from both sides along the LoC. The areas that have been seen intense conflict include Poonch, Akhnoor and even the higher reaches like Uri, Tangdhar, Keran, and Gurez.
"There have been infiltration bids all across continuously from the Pakistan side. The pattern has been similar where these attempts have coincided with ceasefire violations and heavy shelling," an army source said while talking about the recent assessments.
Sources said the skirmishes are likely to continue as Pakistan will try to push in terrorists.
"There is a decline in violence in the mainland and terrorist-initiated incidents and local recruitment has also been low," he said.
Since the beginning of this year, the LoC had been tense and after the airstrike on a terror camp in Balakot by the Indian Air Force (IAF), there was an immediate action with ceasefire violations increasing but the numbers remained under 300 a month.
However, after the abrogation of Article 370 that withdrew the special rights to Jammu and Kashmir, the numbers have mostly remained over 300.
A total of 307 cases were recorded in August, 292 in September, 351 in October, 304 in November and the number has crossed 300 in December. |
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