Jammu:Pakistani troops made the highest number of ceasefire violations in the last 16 years along the J&K border in 2019, amounting to over 3,200 instances or an average of nine such violations daily.
Shelling and firing by Pakistani troops were "very heavy" in 2019, virtually making the 2003 India-Pakistan border truce "redundant", officials said.
There have been 3,289 ceasefire violations by the Pakistan Army along the Indo-Pak border in 2019, they said.
Of these, 1,565 ceasefire violations took place since August 2019, after the Indian government abrogated Article 370 and bifurcated the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories.
Revealing the data in reply to an RTI query of social activist Rohit Choudhary, Director, Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Sulekha said October recorded the highest number of ceasefire violations at 398 followed by 333 in November, 323 in August, 314 in July, 308 in September and 275 in March.
"Pakistani troops repeatedly targeted forward posts and villages along the Line of Control (LoC) and the International Border (IB) to create a fear psychosis among the people," a senior police officer said.
In 2018, Jammu and Kashmir had recorded 2,936 instances of ceasefire violations by Pakistan with an average of eight cases daily, in which 61 people were killed and over 250 injured.
The violations continued in 2019 despite Pakistani troops vowing to maintain peace on the border during flag meetings with the Indian forces, the Army official said.
"Pakistan vows to maintain peace and strengthen border relations, but they do not keep their promises," he said.
The number of ceasefire violations by Pakistani troops in 2019 was over 300 more than in 2018 and over three times that of 2017, when 971 cases were reported.
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