Question : CEASEFIRE VIOLATION

(a) whether incidents of ceasefire violations have been rampant on the Indo-Pak border in the recent past;

(b) if so, the details of such incidents reported along with the number of civilians and security personnel injured/killed during the current year;

(c) whether damage to property and exodus of people from the affected regions were also reported;

(d) if so, the details thereof and the measures taken for relief and rehabilitation of the affected people along with the amount of compensation given to those injured and killed in the said incidents; and

(e) the measures taken by the Government to check such incidents in future and ensure the security of civilians residing in the border area?

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS (SHRI HARIBHAI PARATHIBHAI CHAUDHARY)

(a) & (b): Yes, Madam. As reported by the State Government, upto 31.01.2015, 58 ceasefire violations have been reported during the current year in which 02 civilians have been killed and 12 civilians have been injured. One Security Force (SF) person lost his life and one SF person was injured.

(c) & (d): Large of number of people were affected by the heavy firing/shelling in the border areas of Kuthua, Samba and Jammu District. People from these areas were temporarily shifted to safer places and were accommodated by the administration at various government buildings and were also provided all basic amenities like health care, drinking water, power, temporary toilet, sanitation and security. The ceasefire violations have also caused damage to the houses and the crops. Further, due to firing the land across the fence in many villages could not be cultivated. Loss of livestock has also taken place.

The ex-gratia relief is paid by the State Govern- ment to the persons effected by law and order disturbances, militancy related incidents and firing from across the Line of Control (LoC) and International Border (IB) as per their guidelines.

(e): Government has repeatedly emphasised, including at the highest level, the need for Pakis- tan to uphold the sanctity of the Line of Control and abide by the ceasefire commitment of 2003 along the International Border and Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir. In the bilateral talks held on 27th May, 2014 during the visit of the Prime Minister of Pakistan to India for the swearing-in ceremony of the new Government, Prime Minister further emphasised the importance of maintaining peace and tranquillity at the International Border and upholding the sanctity of the Line of Control.

Appropriate retaliation to the ceasefire violations, where necessary, has been carried out by the Security Forces. At the military level, violation of ceasefire is taken up with Pakistan authorities at the appropriate level through the established mechanism of hotlines, flag meetings as well as weekly talks between the Directorate Generals of Military Operations.