By Muhammad Luqman
Pakistan has said that Indian army used cluster bombs along the Line of Control in disputed Kashmir region to deliberately target the civilian population.
“The Indian Army, on the night of July 30-31, “targeted innocent citizens including women and children in Neelum Valley through artillery using cluster ammunition”, according to a statement of ISPR, the media wing of Pakistan’s armed forces.
It said that 11 people were critically injured while two civilians, including a four-year-old boy, were killed.
Cluster bombs are air- or ground-launched weapons that when fired open mid-air to release several ‘submunitions’, small explosives that can saturate a large area, threatening people and light vehicles in the vicinity. In addition to exploding like bombs, some unexploded cluster munitions act like landmines.
Several countries, notably in Europe, have stopped producing cluster munitions. In 2008, the UN adopted the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) that prohibits all use, stockpiling, production and transfer of cluster munitions.
The ISPR said that the purported use of cluster munitions by India was in “violation of Geneva Convention and international humanitarian law”. The ISPR press release referred to the Convention on Cluster Munitions and declared the act as “blatant Indian aggression”.
“It’s time for international community to take notice of this Indian blatant violation of international laws on use of cluster ammunition targeting innocent citizens,” the statement concluded.
