The Pakistan army violated the ceasefire at least a dozen times daily on an average between February 2020 and February 2021

Pakistan resorted to the highest ever ceasefire violations during the year preceding the announcement by the Indian and Pakistani militaries that they had begun strictly observing a ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) from the midnight of February 24, a Hindustan Times (HT) report has said.

According to government data cited by HT, the Pakistani Army violated the ceasefire at least a dozen times on average daily between February 2020 and February 2021.

Pakistan resorted to 4,645 violations in 2020, it noted. The report further added that, August and September accounted for the highest number of violations for any two consecutive months in 17 years.

The number of violations was more than 5,100 if those along the International Border (IB) are also counted, the HT report mentioned.

The escalation in ceasefire violations coincided with the first anniversary of the Centre’s move in August to strip Jammu & Kashmir of its semi-autonomous status that Islamabad reacted sharply to. The data shows 835 ceasefire violations were reported in August and September last year.

“There were 427 ceasefire violations on the LoC in August 2020. That is the highest number for any single month since November 2003. The Indian Army responded forcefully to the Pakistani violations. The LoC was most active last year since 2003,” an official told HT, asking not to be named.

Ceasefire violations sharply increased over the last five years – recording a 10-fold jump since 2016 when India carried out surgical strikes against terror pads in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in response to the Islamabad-backed suicide attack on an army camp in Uri, the report informed.

It further added that, the year 2016 accounted for 449 violations, with the numbers only increasing in the following years – 881 (2017), 1629 (2018), and 3168 (2019).

India and Pakistan had first agreed to a ceasefire along the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir 2003.