Pakistan violates ceasefire along LoC, Indian Army retaliates

SRINAGAR: Pakistan violated the ceasefire for the second consecutive night and resorted to unprovoked firing across several locations along the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir late Friday. The Indian Army retaliated effectively, with no injuries to its personnel.

“On the night of April 25-26, unprovoked small (arms) firing was carried out by multiple Pakistan army posts all across the LoC in Kashmir,” the Army said in a statement Saturday.

The fresh breaches of truce follow a slew of measures adopted by India in the aftermath of the Pahalgam attack in which terrorists gunned down 26 civilians — most of them tourists — in Baisaran meadow. The Resistance Front (TRF), an offshoot of the proscribed Pakistan-based outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba, had claimed responsibility for the massacre.

In the wake of the Pahalgam strike, Army Chief Gen Upendra Dwivedi had assessed the security situation in J&K on Friday. The Commander of the Srinagar-based 15 Corps had briefed him about the current security scenario, including Pakistan’s ceasefire violations in north Kashmir and other areas along the LoC, as well as Indian Army’s measured response. The same day, Gen Dwivedi attended a meeting chaired by J&K Lt Guv Manoj Sinha, which reviewed the security mechanisms in place, various short-term and long-term measures, as well as integration and coordination among security agencies.