Civilians bleed near border - Mehbooba asks Delhi & Islamabad to de-escalate

Muzaffar Raina and Charu Sudan Kasturil, TT, Nov. 1: Jammu and Kashmir today suffered the highest single-day toll in Pakistani shelling in recent memory, prompting chief minister Mehbooba Mufti to appeal to New Delhi and Islamabad to take urgent de-escalation measures.

Some residents of the border villages in Jammu, where the purported surgical strikes of September 29 were widely hailed, have also begun to question the efficacy of the cross-LoC raid in preventing Pakistan from inflicting casualties this side.

Eight civilians were killed and two dozen injured as Pakistani troops heavily shelled military positions and civilian areas in Samba, Jammu, Poonch and Rajouri districts of Jammu province. Officials said those killed included children.

Samba deputy commissioner Sheetal Nanda told The Telegraph that the shelling from across claimed the lives of five people and the sixth died because of shock after a shell landed close to her. Two more civilians died in Poonch district of Jammu.

The latest killings have taken the toll in Pakistani shelling since the September 29 surgical strikes to 20, including four BSF and four army jawans.

Pakistan has accused Indian forces of killing at least 17, including six yesterday, of its civilians in cross-border firing since September 29.

Mohammad Faisal, the director-general in charge of South Asia at Pakistan's foreign ministry, today summoned India's deputy high commissioner J.P. Singh to issue a demarche - a diplomatic protest note - on the deaths.

"The director-general urged the Indian side to respect the 2003 ceasefire understanding, investigate the continued incidents of ceasefire violations, instruct the Indian forces to respect the ceasefire in letter and spirit, stop targeting the villages and civilians and maintain peace along the working boundary and the LoC," the Pakistan foreign ministry said in a statement.

The Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said a humanitarian crisis was unfolding in the region and asked India and Pakistan to de-escalate the situation.

"I am deeply pained over the fresh spate of civilian killings, including children and women, in border shelling and urge the political leadership in New Delhi and Islamabad to take effective and urgent measures to de-escalate the situation and bring an end to the miseries of the hapless people of Jammu and Kashmir who are caught in the deadly crossfire," Mehbooba said.

The ceasefire violations by Pakistan have significantly increased on the LoC and International Border since the surgical strikes. An Indian official said Pakistan had violated the ceasefire on over 60 occasions over the past month, as against 58 over the first eight months of the year.

Army, paramilitary and foreign office officials in New Delhi indicated they were bracing for worse - a forecast that coincided with questions among some in Jammu over the gains for ordinary civilians from the surgical strikes.

A month on, common people are suffering as a consequence of the strikes, said Tejinder Singh, the sarpanch of Abtal village in Samba.

"One person died in my area today and people are dying almost every day," Singh said. "We have had the best paddy crop in years but that is likely to go waste as we are not able to harvest it."

Most people in his village have migrated to safer areas, Singh said. Cattle, too, are dying in the crossfire, he added.

"The only way to achieve peace is dialogue with Pakistan," he said.