Authorities said ceasefire violations by Pakistan from across the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir witnessed a five-year high in the first nine months of this year.
According to the data collated by the Indian Army, Pakistan violated the ceasefire in Jammu and Kashmir 2,225 times till October 2, meaning that on an average, it violated the ceasefire eight times a day during this period.
Defence sources said that compared to this, the total number of ceasefire violations by Pakistan numbered 1,629 during the entire calendar year of 2018.
"Pakistan increased ceasefire violations this year following the Balakot air strikes in February and subsequently after special status was withdrawn to Jammu and Kashmir in August," a defence officer said.
The officer said the high number of ceasefire violations is linked to attempts by Pakistan to push infiltrators into Jammu and Kashmir under the covering fire.
Intelligence reports have revealed that militants of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba have been kept in waiting along the LoC to be pushed into Indian territory, whenever they sense a chance.
Army sources said India has retaliated to each and every ceasefire violation befittingly. There have also been attempts by Pakistan to carry out Border Action Team (BAT) attacks on Indian positions at the LoC.
A BAT team generally consists of Pakistani army commandos and militants.
In the last week of July, Indian troops had gunned down five BAT attackers near a forward post of the Keran sector in Jammu and Kashmir. Their bodies were not claimed by Pakistani troops.
As per the Army's data, there have been 123 militant-initiated incidents along the LoC and in the hinterland of Jammu and Kashmir till October 2 as compared to 318 such incidents during the entire calendar year of 2018.
The Army has neutralised 140 militants till October 2 this year as compared to 254 in 2018 and 213 in 2017.
Jammu and Kashmir is currently under President's rule. The state Assembly was dissolved on November 2018 after the ruling coalition between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the People's Democratic Party (PDP) fell apart in June 2018.
The Valley has remained under lockdown for nearly two months since the abrogation of the Article 370 by the BJP-led Centre and a sweeping crackdown on not just militants but even mainstream parties like National Conference and Peoples Democratic Party with former chief ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti under detention.
An array of political leaders, businessmen, lawyers, activists and others have also been confined to Centaur Hotel on the banks of Dal Lake which has been declared as a sub-jail by the state administration. No announcement has yet been made on the charges under which the mainstream leaders and others have been arrested, and whether and when they will be released.
Relatives of Omar and Mehbooba recently were allowed to meet the leaders at Hari Niwas Palace and a guest house at Cheshma Shahi where the two leaders are being held respectively while Dr Farooq has been booked under PSA and his Gupkar house has been declared as a subsidiary jail.
Earlier, the daughter of Mehbooba, Iltija Mufti, had written to the home minister that she was fearing for her life and that she was being denied permission to meet her mother who she said has been confined to ‘one room’.