Muzaffarabad, Pakistan - Pakistan accused Indian troops of firing shells across the disputed border in Kashmir on Monday after last week's killing of Indian soldiers set off a wave of skirmishes between the two nuclear-armed rivals.
Tension along the 740km Line of Control that divides Kashmir flared on August 6 when five Indian soldiers were ambushed and killed in the Poonch region. New Delhi blamed the attack on the Pakistan army. Islamabad denied involvement.
On Monday, a Pakistani army official said a civilian was killed as a result of “unprovoked Indian shelling” in the Battal, Chirikot and Satwal sectors.
“Pakistan troops effectively responded to Indian firing,” the official said.
A spokesman for the Indian Defence Ministry said Indian posts came under heavy mortar and automatic weapon fire overnight in the same area. He said India “responded effectively” and that no damage or injuries were reported on the Indian side.
The disputed Himalayan region was split between India and Pakistan in 1948 but they both both claim it in its entirety.
They have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir and India accuses Pakistan of supporting separatist rebels fighting its rule in its part of Kashmir since 1989.
The two armies have been exchanging fire on the front line since Tuesday, straining a ceasefire that has largely held since November 2003.
Following the latest attack, hundreds of people took to the street in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, accusing India of stepping up attacks.
“Down with India! Long live the Kashmir freedom movement!” they chanted as the crowd marched towards the Muzaffarabad office of the United Nations Military Observer Group which monitors the ceasefire.
“India does not want peace to prevail in this region,” said migrant Uzair Ahmed Ghizali. “This becomes clear from atrocities inside the held territory and provocative actions along the Line of Control.”
Tit-for-tat shelling is common along the Line of Control, but tensions have been high since the ambush, with India hinting at retaliation for one of the worst attacks since 2003.
Media have reported Pakistan might redeploy some of its troops from the Afghan border, where the army is fighting a separate Taliban-linked insurgency, to the eastern frontier, but an army official said the option was not on the table.
India and Pakistan have been trying to restart stalled peace talks, possibly as early as this month, as well as a possible meeting between Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart, Nawaz Sharif, in New York in September.
India has deployed tens of thousands of soldiers in Kashmir to put down an armed revolt that began in 1989. In recent years, violence has ebbed, but there has been little movement on a political settlement. - Reuters