SRINAGAR: Pakistan troops violated ceasefire again in Jammuand Kashmir's Poonch district on Friday evoking a strong response from theIndian Army. According to reports, heavy shelling started from the Pakistanside of the border late on Thursday, which continued till Friday morning.Theunprovoked firing from the Pakistani troops evoked a sharp retaliation from theIndian Army. The firing has stopped as of now.

This comes amid reports that ceasefire violations byPakistan from across the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir is on afive-year high within the first nine months of the current year.

According to the data collated by the Indian Army, Pakistanviolated the ceasefire in Jammu and Kashmir 2,225 times till October 2, meaningthat on an average, it violated the ceasefire eight times a day during thisperiod.

Compared to this, the total number of ceasefire violationsby Pakistan numbered 1,629 during the entire calendar year of 2018."Pakistanincreased ceasefire violations this year following the Balakot air strikes inFebruary and subsequently after the special status was withdrawn to Jammu andKashmir in August," a defence official said.

The officer said the high number of ceasefire violations islinked to attempts by Pakistan to push terrorists into Jammu and Kashmir underthe covering fire.

Intelligence reports have revealed that terrorists ofPakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba have been kept in waitingalong the LoC to be pushed into Indian territory, whenever they sense a chance.Armysources said India has retaliated to each and every ceasefire violationbefittingly. There have also been attempts by Pakistan to carry out BorderAction Team (BAT) attacks on Indian positions at the LoC. A BAT team generallyconsists of Pakistani army commandos and terrorists.

In the last week of July, Indian troops had gunned down fiveBAT attackers near a forward post of the Keran sector in Jammu and Kashmir.Their bodies were not claimed by Pakistani troops.

As per the Army`s data, there have been 123terrorist-initiated incidents along the LoC and in the hinterland of Jammu andKashmir till October 2 as compared to 318 such incidents during the entirecalendar year of 2018.The Army has neutralised 140 militants till October 2this year as compared to 254 in 2018 and 213 in 2017.