Pakistan alleges India preparing for surgical strike as it violates ceasefire at LoC

Srinagar: On the day it violated ceasefire at the Line of Control, Pakistan alleged India of preparing for a surgical strike on its soil.

Pakistan resorted to unprovoked firing and shelling on Indian positions on the Line of Control (LoC) on Friday in two sectors of Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district.

About 5.40 p.m., Pakistan initiated the unprovoked firing with small arms and shelling with mortars in Mendhar and Balakote sectors, Defence Spokesman Colonel Devender Anand said.

The spokesman said the Indian army retaliated at both the places befittingly.

Pakistan Foreign Shah Mehmood Qureshi while speaking to the press in the United Arab Emirates capital Abu Dhabi on Friday, said that the country has intelligence information that India is planning a surgical strike against it.

According to Al Jazeera report, Qureshi alleged that India have tried to seek tacit approval from important players who are considered as its partners.

The minister also provokingly said that Pakistan would strike back at India "a notch above" to retaliate the attack.

"We will do it effectively as we did respond immediately and effectively in February 2019. And we will respond effectively if they choose this path," Qureishi said, according to the report.

According to the report, Qureshi warned the international players that any Indian attack on Pakistan could have "catastrophic consequences" and would "seriously undermine" the intra-Afghan peace process, which began in September and which Pakistan has been facilitating.

Pakistan has with impunity since the beginning of this year been violating the bilateral ceasefire agreement signed by the two countries in 1999.

Since January 2020, around 30 civilians have been killed and over 100 injured in more than 3,200 ceasefire violations by Pakistan on the LoC.