On Monday, India issued a strong demarche to Pakistan over the violation of ceasefire at the LoC and the killing of three innocent civilians, among which was an eight-year-old boy and a woman, and the injury of five others on April 12 in the Kupwara district of Jammu and Kashmir.
Under ordinary conditions, a phone call is used to set up a meeting with a foreign envoy at the External Affairs Ministry to convey the demarche and then during the meeting, the government’s displeasures regarding the particular event are conveyed verbally and the demarche in the form of a hard copy is finally handed over to the official.
Due to the lockdown conditions in India and with people practising social distancing, the
demarche conveyed the usual way. It was first sent over an email and then a phone call was made to the senior official in the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi, according to some sources.
Later that night, a second demarche, also sent electronically, was also conveyed to Pakistan regarding the open firing at two Indian fishing boats namely- Omkar and Mahasagar, off the Gujarat Coast by Pakistan Maritime Security Forces. The unsolicited firing led to the injury of a fisherman present on one of the boats.
According to the local police, the Indian fishermen sent distress signals which were picked up by the Indian Coast Guard. The Fishermen on board the two fishing boats were released with due verifications after a few calls to the Pakistani authorities, Rohan Anand, Superintendent of Police of Devbhumi Dwarka district said.
While Indian authorities have been strictly following the Lockdown and social distancing
guidelines, Gaurav Ahluwalia, India’s Charge D’Affaires, was summoned by the Pakistan
Foreign Ministry Office in Islamabad to report their protests against the several ceasefire
violations by India on Sunday. Pakistan claimed that a two-year-old, among four others, were killed during the ceasefire violations by India. New Delhi rejected Islamabad’s accusations claiming that they only responded to the firing started by Pakistan.
Both of the countries have accused each other of violating the 2003 ceasefire recently. Pakistan claimed that India has violated the ceasefire 749 times in 2020 as of yet and that by doing so they are trying to divert the attention from the human rights crisis evolving in Kasmir. India claimed that Pakistan has violated the ceasefire 1,114 times this year.
Sources say that Pakistan Army is trying to sneak in terrorists under the cover fire into Jammu and Kashmir to instigate more problems in a place already facing difficulties due to COVID-19.
