India, May 11 -- The use of civilian settlements as military positions by Pakistan's armed forces is not a recent innovation. It is a practice with roots that extend back to the earliest wars fought by the Pakistani state.
Historical evidence from both the 1965 India-Pakistan War and the 1971 India-Pakistan War demonstrates that Pakistan extensively utilised villages and civilian settlements for active firing positions and gun areas. What we observe today along the Line of Control and in conflict operations like Bunyan um Marsoos is, in many ways, a continuation of a doctrine developed over six decades ago.
During the 1965 war, the use of villages as firing positions and staging grounds was documented on multiple occasions. The practice a...