ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif today said that the situation on the Line of Control and Working Boundary with India has been rapidly deteriorating since 2017.
Responding to a query in the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, he alleged India has committed more than 400 ceasefire violations along the LoC and the Working Boundary since January in which 18 civilians have been killed.
"Heavy weapons, including mortars are frequently being used by the Indian forces on the civilian population on the Pakistani side of the LoC and the Working Boundary," he said.
Asif said the LoC violations were an attempt to divert the attention from the "deteriorating" humanitarian situation in the Valley.
He said that the role of the UN Military Observers Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) was crucial to ensure peace at the LoC.
The minister alleged that Pakistan always extended full cooperation to the UNMOGIP but India was not cooperating with the world body representatives.
India maintains that the UNMOGIP has outlived its utility and is irrelevant after the Simla Agreement and the consequent establishment of the Line of Control (LoC).