Jammu and Kashmir: Three people including two women have been killed, and 22 others injured at the global border in RS Pura, where guns have not fallen silent since Thursday night, there was heavy exchange of fire between the Border Security Force and the Pakistan Rangers.
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Tension has mounted between the countries following scrapping of talks between their national security advisers earlier this week because of disagreements related largely to Kashmir.
The latest round of shelling by Indian forces coincided with anniversary of 1965’s Operation Gibraltar that transitioned into a war between the two countries.
Aziz issued a separate statement in Islamabad, where he “condemned the unprovoked Indian firing”. Later Pakistan Rangers changed gears and started pounding the civilian areas with heavy arms including 82 mortar shells and bombs.
Six Pakistanis and three Indians died, officials on both sides reported; no military personnel were injured.
Police said the Pakistanis also used machine guns.
The Chief of Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif has said that India is disregarding worldwide conventions and norms, and has crossed all limits to terrorise Pakistan’s civilian population.
On the contrary, India has accused Pakistan of breaching the ceasefire agreement.
Simrandeep Singh, an Indian administrator, said the firing targeted border posts and some villages in R.S. Pura and Arnia sectors about 25 kilometres (15 miles) southwest of Jammu, the winter capital of India’s Jammu-Kashmir state.
“While condemning the Indian practice of targeting civilians on objective, Pakistan expressed its deep concern at the continued hostility at the LoC and the Working Boundary”, the Foreign Office (FO) said in a statement.
Punjab Rangers Spokesman Major Waheed Bukhari said that the UN team observed the damages and losses in the unprovoked firing by the Indian forces in the area.
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Last month, there were 19 ceasefire violations in which four persons, including three jawans, were killed and 14 others injured. Likewise, India regularly accuses Pakistan of training militants who go on to fight for Kashmir’s independence or merger with Pakistan – a charge the Pakistani government denies.
