india

Updated: Apr 17, 2020 23:04 IST

Indian Army chief General MM Naravane on Friday condemned the relentless ceasefire violations by Pakistan on the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir, saying the whole world is battling the coronavirus pandemic but the neighbouring country has not stopped stirring trouble.

Gen MM Naravane is on a two-day visit to the region to review the security situation amid the national lockdown and an unusual spike in ceasefire violations by Pakistan army.

This is the army chief’s first visit to a forward area after the lockdown was imposed to break the chain of coronavirus infections. He will return to Delhi on Friday.

“It is very unfortunate that at a time when the whole world and India is fighting the menace of this pandemic, our neighbour continues to foment trouble for us,” Gen Naravane said while speaking to ANI.

“While we are busy not only helping our own citizens but the rest of the world by sending medical teams and exporting medicines, on the other hand, Pakistan is only exporting terror. This doesn’t augur well,” he added.

The five commandos, as well as five terrorists, were killed on April 5 when the troops prevented the group from sneaking into the Kashmir Valley from Keran sector.

The army had said on April 10 that it destroyed launch pads and ammunition dumps in Kupwara’s Keran sector across the LoC in retaliation to the ceasefire violation.

The army had targeted Pakistani positions with artillery guns and caused severe damage to Pakistani army posts, terror launch pads and an ammunition dump in a response to an unprovoked ceasefire violation.

India has already lodged protests with Pakistan for the killing of a woman and two children in firing by Pakistani forces in Jammu and Kashmir.

India in the demarche over the Kashmir violation condemned in the strongest possible terms the deliberate targeting of innocent civilians that had led to the killing of Shamima Begum, 35, and Javid Ahmad Khan, 17, residents of Reddi Chokibal and eight-year-old Zeeshan Bashir of Kupwara’s Tumna village.

The demarche underlined that Pakistani forces continue to resort to unprovoked firing and ceasefire violations and asked Islamabad to probe such heinous crimes against civilians, people familiar with the developments had said.

The Pakistan army has carried out more ceasefire violations during January-March this year compared to the corresponding periods of the previous two years.

Pakistan violated the ceasefire 1144 times between January and March, with the highest number of violations (411) recorded last month when Covid-19 cases started peaking globally. The Pakistan army violated the ceasefire 685 times in 2019 and 627 times in 2018 for the period January to March.