'Over 400 ceasefire violations by Pakistan in a year'

NEW DELHI: There have been 430 ceasefire violations by Pakistan in the last one year, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Tuesday. In the period between November 25, 2015 and November 26, 2016, there were 216 ceasefire violations along the Line of Control (LC) and International Border (IB), in army's operational control, Minister of State for Defence Subhash Bhamre Bhamre said in a written reply. During the same period, ceasefire was violated 214 times, along IB in operational control of Border Security Force (BSF), was violated. During these ceasefire violations, eight army soldiers died and 74 were injured. Further, in 2016 (till November 7, 2016, 111 houses or structures got damaged, the minister said. There is no permanent dislocation of the people residing close to IB or LoC, he added. "In 2016, 27,449 persons were evacuated from their villages in Jammu division after the surgical strike in Pakistan occupied Kashmir," the minister said. "The mechanism has been instituted at Border Out Posts (BOP) and border areas to expeditiously inform the villagers on occurrence of cross-border firing. Bullet Proof bunkers and ambulances are kept in readiness at convenient locations for evacuation of persons in case of emergency," he added.