Pakistan summons Indian envoy over cross-border shelling that killed civilian

Islamabad: The Pakistan government has issued a summon to the Indian envoy in Islamabad over a recent cross-border firing that claimed the life of a civilian, the Foreign Ministry said on Monday.

The Director General on the South Asian desk at the Foreign Ministry, Mohammad Faisal, summoned Indian Deputy High Commissioner J.P. Singh and condemned the unprovoked ceasefire violation by the Indian forces along the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir on April 1, the Foreign Office said in a statement.

The statement said an 18-year-old civilian, Muhammad Attique Qureshi, was killed in the firing at Chirikot sector of the Line of Control.

"The deliberate targeting of civilians is indeed condemnable and contrary to human dignity and international human rights and humanitarian laws," it said.

The Director-General urged the Indian side to respect the 2003 Ceasefire Understanding, investigate this and other incidents of ceasefire violations, instruct the Indian forces to respect the ceasefire in letter and spirit, and maintain peace on the LoC.

The latest incident happened as escalation along the LoC, which divides the two neighbours in the disputed Kashmir, has been seen since a militant attack on an army base in the Jammu and Kashmir on September 18 last year killed 19 soldiers.

The Indian military blamed the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad group for the attack and also pointed fingers at Pakistan.