- Ceasefire agreement can save many human lives in Pakistan, India
By Hamid Khan Wazir
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Both Pakistan and India have suffered huge human and material losses due to the constant skirmishes and attacks taking place on the border of the neighboring Countries for the last few decades.
In the period between October 16, 2016 and February 25, 2021, Pakistan suffered 370 fatalities and 661 injuries due to the border conflicts with India.
According to the Pakistan India Conflict Report issued by the Center for Research and Security Studies, the highest fatalities from these skirmishes and attacks took place in 2019.
During that year, India carried out an aerial attack inside Pakistan to target an alleged terrorist training camp at Balakot. An Indian plane was shot down by Pakistani forces, and its pilot Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman was taken into custody for roughly 60 hours.
The following year, in 2020, a significant drop in fatalities from cross-border attacks was recorded in Pakistan. Civilians sustained the most casualties in these border skirmishes with 217 killed and 630 injured while 153 security personnel were killed with another 31 injured, mostly soldiers. Among civilians, there were 21 women and 11 children.
The casualties of border skirmishes in India were nearly half of Pakistan (1,032 in Pakistan vs 547 in India). A total of 282 individuals perished, while another 265 were injured in these scuffles.
The civil-military distribution of the victims in India is also dissimilar to what was found in Pakistan. Nearly 70% of the total fatalities were of the security personnel as compared to 41% in Pakistan. The percentage for civilians in India was 30% compared to nearly 60% in Pakistan. There were 8 children and 13 women among the civilians. A mosque was also damaged in the frontier of Kupwara district on December 30.
It is evident that both Countries experienced irreversible human tragedy. If the current decision of recommitting to ceasefire agreement of 2003 gains a long-lasting permanency, it can save many precious human lives on both sides of the border and provide a better environment where purposeful dialogues can be held to address issues that remain disputed
