Two AJK men killed in Indian shelling.

Byline: Tariq Naqash

MUZAFFARABAD -- IndAian troops resorted to mortar shelling of civilian population in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) on Thursday, martyring two people and injuring another two, officials said.

The casualties occurred in the lower belt of the Neelum Valley, a day after Indian Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawat said the situation along the Line of Control (LoC) could escalate anytime.

'Earlier, it was [military] post to post firing between the two sides, but after 3:30pm, Indian troops started lobbing shells on civilian populated areas,' said Akhtar Ayub, a disaster management officer in Athmuqam, district headquarters of the Neelum Valley.

According to him, some two to three mortar shells fell in Lesva village, injuring Sheharyar Naseer, 12, Naveed Gohar, 28, and his sister Komal Gohar, 14.

All three were taken to a nearby military-run health facility where Sheharyar died while Naveed lost his battle for life on way to Muzaffarabad, he said.

A 15-year-old boy, Hammad Ahmed, was injured in Barian village. He was under treatment in district headquarters hospital Athmuqam, Mr Ayub said.

A police official in the area told Dawn that due to shelling, movement of vehicles on the main road was stopped to avert further losses.

However, traffic was allowAed to move after sunset, he said.

Strongly condemning the Indian shelling, AJK's senior minister Chaudhry Tariq Farooq said that Gen Rawat had already uncovered New Delhi's nefarious plan to escalate tensions across the LoC to divert attention from the situation in occupied Jammu and Kashmir as well as in India that had...