Indian troops committed more than 2900 ceasefire violations across the restive Line of Control (LoC) in 2020, leaving as many as 33 innocent civilians martyred and another 260 wounded in different parts of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), a cabinet member said on Friday — the first day of the new year.

“Even though the whole world was hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, [the] Indian army did not discontinue its ghastly practice of pounding our unarmed civilian populations along the dividing line,” said Chaudhry Tariq Farooq, AJK’s senior minister for physical planning and housing.

“Not only the civilians, they also targeted the UN military observers in this year while they were on a routine monitoring mission along the LoC,'' said the minister, referring to the Dec 18 shooting at a UN vehicle in Poonch district.

Sharing details of the physical and material losses with Dawn, he said 16 men and 17 women were martyred. The injured meanwhile numbered 260, with 161 men and 99 women injured.

The youngest martyr was two-year-old Adeeb Sudhir of Neelum valley and the oldest martyrs were Jan Begum of district Bhimber and Muhammad Bashir of district Haveli, both over 75 years of age, he said.

The latest fatality, he said, had occurred on Wednesday when a 50-year-old woman, identified as Zobina Bibi, wife of Ajaib, passed away in a Rawalpindi hospital after battling for her life for more than a month.

On Nov 22, a mortar shell fired by the Indian army had left 11 participants of a wedding ceremony in Seri sector of Kotli district injured. They included Ms Bibi and seven-year old Hoorain who succumbed to her wounds, in a Rawalpindi hospital, on Dec 17.

"There are heart wrenching stories of death and destruction from almost all areas along the LoC. [Stories of] people caught in indiscriminate shelling and people targeted by trigger-happy Indian snipers even during [moments of] apparent calm," said Farooq.

Giving the district-wise break up of fatalities, he said nine civilians had lost their lives in district Kotli, seven in Neelum valley, six in district Haveli, five in district Bhimber, four in district Poonch and two in Jhelum valley.

Of those who had sustained injuries, 75 belonged to Kotli district, 52 to Bhimber district, 44 to Poonch district, 35 to Neelum district, 25 to Jhelum valley district, 23 to Haveli district and six to Muzaffarabad district, he added.

Damage to property

The minister further informed that enemy shelling had also wreaked havoc on civilian properties, including 596 partially or completely damaged houses and 40 completely damaged shops, at a time when sources of income and livelihood in most parts of AJK had almost dried up due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Giving details of these losses, Farooq said that Neelum valley was the worst hit district in 2020 in terms of property losses. A total of 34 houses and 14 shops were either burnt to ashes or razed to the ground in addition to another 167 houses that were partially damaged.

In Jhelum valley, eight houses and 16 shops were destroyed and 88 houses were partially damaged.

In Poonch district, 143 houses were partially damaged while six houses and seven shops were destroyed.

In Kotli district, 83 houses were partially damaged while three houses and two shops were destroyed.

In Bhimber district, 38 houses were partially damaged and one shop was destroyed. In Haveli district, 10 houses were partially damaged and seven houses were destroyed, while In Muzaffarabad district, eight houses were partially damaged.

In addition to that, a petrol pump, 23 vehicles and five motorcycles, four rice milling machines, three cattle sheds and nine mosques were also partially or completely damaged, Farooq said. He added that villagers had also lost some 192 cattle heads to enemy shelling.

With regards to loss of public sector infrastructure, the senior minister said one health facility, three intermediate colleges, five schools and an agriculture office building had been damaged by Indian shelling.

In previous years, 59 civilians have been martyred and another 281 injured in 2019 and 28 civilians have been martyred and another 172 injured in 2018.