New Delhi: Indian Army personnel crossed the Line of Control (LoC) on Monday night to enter Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) and killed three Pakistani soldiers and injured another.
The latest development, as reported by news agency ANI, was a mission reportedly undertaken as a retaliatory measure against a ceasefire violation by the Pakistani Army on Saturday, which claimed the lives of four Indian soldiers.
However, this is not the first time that the two rival Armies have lost people in cross-border attacks.
At least one incident of ceasefire violation by Pakistan was reported on a daily basis in Jammu and Kashmir between 2015 and 2016. Twenty-three security personnel lost their lives in this period, the Home Ministry had said in an RTI reply.
It said Pakistan had breached the truce along the Line of Control 449 times in 2016 as compared to 405 violations in 2015. As compared to 220 terror incidents reported in Jammu and Kashmir in 2012, there were 322 incidents in 2016, in which 82 security personnel and 15 civilians were killed, the ministry said.
In 2014, starting July, there were close to 15 major incidents of ceasefire violations that were reported and resulted in the death of over 20 people, including security personnel. In 2015, there were many more incidents of ceasefire violations.
JANUARY 2015: Three Indian soldiers and two Pakistan soldiers were reportedly killed in January.
JULY 2015: India reportedly lost three of its soldiers and a month later, maximum violations were reported and both sides reported casualties, including security personnel and civilians.
SEPTEMBER 2016: In one of the biggest attacks on the Indian Army, 21 soldiers were killed by unknown militants at an Army base in Uri. Almost 10 days after the Uri attack, the Indian Army said it had conducted surgical strikes against suspected militants in PoK, which the Pakistan administration denied.
OCTOBER 2016: Pakistan said its soldiers had come under fire in Bhimber and India said that Pakistan had started the firing. Six civilians in Poonch were reportedly injured due to firing from Pakistan on October 3 and on October 4 an Indian Army soldier was injured in Naushera. Further, 3 to 4 Indian soldiers were injured on October 5.
NOVEMBER 2016: On November 22, Pakistan’s Border Action Team (BAT) allegedly killed three Indian soldiers and mutilated one of the bodies in Machchil, Kupwara. The Indian Army responded and said that “retribution to this cowardly attack would be heavy”. Pakistan denied the accusation.
On November 23, India attacked Pakistani posts and heavy firing on a passenger bus killed 9 civilians. Pakistan, however, claimed 7 Indian soldiers were killed in the retaliatory firing, which was not confirmed by India.
DECEMBER 2016: On December 2, a BSF jawan was injured by a Pakistan sniper in Bhimber and towards the end of the month, it was reported that Pakistan had fired at Indian posts but no casualties were reported.
FEBRUARY 2017: In February, the Pakistan Army said that three of its soldiers had been killed in cross-border firing.
MAY 2017: In May, India claimed that Pakistan had killed and mutilated 2 of its soldiers, a claim Pakistan again denied. A month later, three incidents were reported, which reportedly killed 3 Indian civilians and injured 9 others, including a BSF officer.
JUNE 2017: In June, there were reports of the Indian Army having eliminated Pakistan’s BAT, comprising 5 soldiers.
JULY 2017: Around July 1, a Pakistani civilian was reportedly injured after Indian soldiers fired in Rawalkot. A week later, an off-duty soldier and his wife were killed and their children reportedly injured as Pakistan fired in Poonch. Pakistan reportedly said that it was retaliatory firing after Indian side’s attack killed two people. On July 12, two Indian soldiers were killed in Kupwara.
SEPTEMBER 2017: In September, India lost three of its security personnel, including one BSF jawan in ceasefire violations across the LoC.
OCTOBER 2017: Around October 2, an Indian soldier was killed in Poonch and almost a week later, eight Indian Army soldiers were injured in ‘unprovoked firing by Pakistani troops.’ Various other skirmishes in October resulted in Pakistan claiming that at least two civilians had been killed. India claimed that an Army porter was killed and a girl was injured in Baramullah.
NOVEMBER 2017: A BSF constable was reportedly killed in Samaba sector.
A look at the data provided by the South Asian Terrorism Portal (SATP) shows that in 2014, there were 51 ceasefire violations along the LoC and 38 along the international border (IB). The same year, three soldiers were killed along the LoC and one on the IB. One civilian was killed along the LoC in 2014 and 10 were killed along the International Border.
A year later, in 2015, the number of ceasefire violations along the LoC rose to 98 and along the International Bureau increased to 131. Along the LoC, security forces were killed and 3 along the IB. Number of civilians killed in 2015 along the LoC were 10 and another 10 along the IB.
In 2016, according to SATP, there were 93 violations along the LoC and 12 such breaches along the IB.
The number of security personnel killed in 2016 along the LoC stood at 10 and there were 3 such deaths along the IB.
Further, 15 civilians lost their lives along the LoC in 2016 and this year, as of December 17, there were 192 ceasefire violations along the LoC and 36 such violations along the IB. There were 21 security personnel deaths reported along the LoC, and 2 along the IB. The number of civilians killed this year along the LoC was 13 and one person along the IB.
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