India escalates shelling on Azad Kashmir

CHIRIKOT SECTOR, Azad Kashmir: Pakistan's military this week said there had been an escalation in firing and shelling across the Line of Control (LoC) at a time of heightened diplomatic tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbors, a British wire service reported.

Major General Amer Ahsan Nawaz, the commander of Pakistani troops in Kashmir, accused the Indian military of trying to distract attention from unrest in occupied Kashmir.

"If you compare it to the past years, there is a definite increase in this year," he told reporters on July 22 near the LoC. Pakistan's military said that in 2019, when cease-fire violations hit more than the decade-high peak, there were over 3,500 incidents. Already in 2020 there have been almost 1,800 violations, the Pakistan military said.

In Azad Kashmir, which is relatively heavily populated close to the LoC, locals said that shelling or firing was becoming a near-daily occurrence. "It can start any time day or night," said Malik Mohammad Ayub, a local deputy commissioner, who said around four civilians were killed and 13 wounded in his district since he took the job four months ago.

Faiza Shabbir, 12, said she and her sisters are living in a constant state of fear since shelling began in their area earlier this month. "Firing was going on, so we hid in our house, then a shell hit our roof. Three of us sisters and our grandmother were injured," she said, adding that they had to spent four days in hospital being treated for shrapnel wounds.