Ceasefire violations by the Pakistan Army along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir continued for the tenth straight day, with unprovoked firing reported across multiple sectors on the intervening night of May 3 and 4, according to the Defence Ministry.
In a statement issued on Sunday, the Ministry said Pakistani posts opened small arms fire in areas opposite Kupwara, Baramulla, Poonch, Rajouri, Mendhar, Naushera, Sunderbani, and Akhnoor. “Indian Army responded promptly and proportionately,” the statement added.
The repeated ceasefire violations come in the wake of heightened tensions following the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam’s Baisaran meadow, where Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) terrorists, reportedly supported by Pakistan, killed 26 civilians — 25 tourists and one local resident. The incident has triggered nationwide outrage.
In response, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his first remarks on the massacre, vowed that the perpetrators, their handlers, and their backers would be “chased and hunted down to the ends of the earth.”
India has since announced a series of retaliatory measures, including the deportation of Pakistani nationals, closure of the Attari-Wagah border, suspension of the Indus Water Treaty, and a ban on Pakistani commercial flights over Indian airspace. All trade and cultural exchanges between the two countries have also been halted.
The Prime Minister has granted operational freedom to the armed forces to respond to the Pahalgam attack. The decision followed a high-level security meeting attended by the Defence Minister, the National Security Advisor, the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), and the chiefs of the Army, Navy, and Air Force. Earlier, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had met the Prime Minister after receiving a detailed briefing from CDS General Anil Chauhan on the readiness of the armed forces.
Meanwhile, security operations in Jammu and Kashmir have intensified. Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha recently held a security review meeting with Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi in Srinagar. The L-G reportedly instructed the Army to use all necessary force to track down those involved in the Pahalgam attack.
On April 28, the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly unanimously passed a resolution condemning the Pahalgam killings, describing them as a heinous act of terrorism.
