ISLAMABAD: Pakistan yesterday accused Indian forces of firing on its border posts in disputed Kashmir and neighbouring Punjab province, where it sparked an “intermittent exchange of fire”.
The fighting is the latest in recent cross-border skirmishes between the two nuclear-armed neighbours who have fought three wars since independence from the British rule in 1947, two over the Muslim-majority region of Kashmir.
Tensions have flared up in the heavily militarised Kashmir valley with both sides accusing each other of cross-border firings.
But the first of yesterday’s incidents took place near the border close to the eastern city of Sialkot in neighbouring Punjab province.
“Indian Border Security Forces resorted to unprovoked firing on Pakistani Rangers posts near Pukhlian, Head Marala in Sialkot sector,” a military official said.
“Intermittent exchange of fire continues. No loss has been reported so far,” he said, adding that after the exchange of fire in Punjab, Indian troops resorted to unprovoked firing at the 740km Line of Control (LoC) in Nakial sector near Kotli in the disputed Kashmir region.
Indian Defence Minister A K Antony on Thursday hinted at stronger military action along the LoC after Delhi accused Pakistan’s army of involvement in a deadly overnight ambush on Monday that killed five Indian soldiers in the Poonch region.
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif tried to ease tensions by urging both sides to work swiftly to shore up a 10-year ceasefire threatened by recent attacks.
But Pakistani military officials on Thursday made fresh allegations, accusing Indian troops of opening fire and seriously wounding a male civilian in the Tatta Pani sector along the LoC.
The Himalayan territory of Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan by the UN-monitored LoC, the de facto border, but is claimed in full by both countries.
A deadly flare-up along the LoC in January brought peace talks to a halt. They had just resumed after a three-year hiatus sparked by the 2008 attacks in Mumbai that killed 166 people. India blamed Pakistani militants for the attack.
More than a dozen armed rebel groups have been fighting Indian forces since 1989, demanding independence for Kashmir or its merger with Pakistan.
The Indian BSF claimed one of its guards was wounded after Pakistan Rangers opened fire on a post in Kanachak, some 40km southwest of Jammu, the winter capital of India’s Jammu and Kashmir state.
“It was an unprovoked firing on an international border post from the other side. However, we responded with utmost restraint,” the BSF said.
It said soldiers were patrolling violence-hit districts and the administration had blocked mobile data services to stop the spreading of any rumours. Agencies
