On Sunday, Pakistani troops opened fire on an Indian Army post along the Line of Control (LoC) in the Poonch sector around 11 AM. The Indian Army responded swiftly, and no casualties were reported on the Indian side, officials confirmed to media.
“Pakistan ke naam mein Pak hai par uski harkatein napak hai…This is their history also…For the past several days, they have been violating the ceasefire…First, they did such an incident in Akhnoor, and now they have repeated it in Poonch today…The country is leading in the world and signing several deals, and therefore, countries like Pakistan, China, and all those that do not agree with us are not happy…We want to tell our government and our Indian Army that we stand with them…,” a local expressed.
Army officials confirmed the incident, stating, “At about 11 AM today, Pak troops opened small arms fire on their post across LC in the Poonch Sect. The fire was retaliated against appropriately by the Indian Army. No casualties on our own side.”
This shooting incident follows recent tensions along the LoC. Earlier, on February 13, the Indian Army had reaffirmed that the ceasefire agreement between India and Pakistan remained intact, despite occasional stray firing. “The ceasefire on the Line of Control is intact and continues to be observed as per the understanding between both the armies (of India and Pakistan). Tension due to some stray incidents of cross-LoC firing and a suspected IED blast on one of our PTLs on the LoC is being dealt with through the established mechanism. No exchange of fire of heavy-calibre weapons has taken place,” an Army statement read.
Indian Army sources emphasized that minor incidents along the LoC are not uncommon, and concerns have been raised with the Pakistan Army at the appropriate level. The situation remains stable, with Indian forces maintaining a high level of alertness and asserting dominance over the LoC.
In the aftermath of the incident, a joint search operation was launched by Romeo Force and the Special Operations Group (SOG) of the Police in the dense forests of Mendhar town in Poonch district to trace any suspicious terrorist movements in the region.