ISLAMABAD: A legislative body of Senate was informed on Thursday that to date Indian troops have committed 247 ceasefire violations – 163 along the Line of Control and 84 along the Working Boundary. Due to Indian firing, 39 civilians were killed and 150 injured. Senate Defence Committee met in Parliament House under the chairmanship of Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed. The Ministry of Defence, which was represented by Secretary Defence Lt Gen (r) Alam Khattak and Additional Secretary Vice Admiral Mukhtar, apprised the committee that since the election of Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi “relations between Pakistan and India have worsened because of wilful Indian violation of the ceasefire agreed to between the two countries in 2003”. Although, every Tuesday, the directors general of military operations (DGMO) of both countries speak on a hotline, the ceasefire violations by India have raised tensions. Regarding the border with Afghanistan, the Defence Ministry said that till date there have been 132 cross-border violations from the Afghan side. The committee also unanimously passed a resolution proposing a gallantry award for Flight Lieutenant Maryam Mukhtiar, who is the first female pilot in the Muslim world to embrace martyrdom in the line of duty. The resolution called Maryam Mukhtiar a “role model for youth and women of Pakistan”. The committee directed the Ministry of Defence, pursuant to a public petition sent to the Senate Defence Committee by a relative of the victims of the APS massacre, to provide full and comprehensive compensation to the next of kin of the martyrs. The MoD briefed the committee that three kinds of compensation packages have been approved and completed, including one each from the Federal Government, the Pakistan Army and the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.