SRINAGAR: The Indian army says Pakistani troops have fired at their posts along the Line of Control that divides Kashmir, a day after Pakistan said Indian shelling had killed one of its military officers.
The two nuclear rivals have been accusing each other of continuously violating a ceasire agreement signed over a decade ago. Both, of course, deny the charges.
The Indian Defence Ministry spokesman based in Jammu, Colonel R.K. Palta, told IANS that on Wednesday night Pakistani troops resorted to “unprovoked” firing in Mendhar and Hamirpur areas in Poonch district.
“Pakistani troops used small arms, automatics and mortars to target our positions. Our troops retaliated to the enemy fire. The firing exchanges started at 10.30 p.m. and continued for about one hour,” he said.
A Pakistani military official on Tuesday had said that “unprovoked shelling” from the Indian side of the LoC had killed a soldier besides “seriously” wounding another.
A truce along their Kashmir border has held for nearly a decade even though it has been broken every now and then – by tit-for-tat artillery fire and the occasional cross-border ambushes.
Recent spats have jeopardised the resumption of peace talks, stalled after a series of border clashes between the two countries in January this year.
A couple of days ago, Pakistan summoned the Indian high commissioner over the killing of its soldiers.
Many quarters in India are also trying to put pressure on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to call of a meet with his Pakistani counterpart, Nawaz Sharief, scheduled next month. Earlier this month five Indian soldiers were killed in firing at the LoC.
India accused Pakistani troops of crossing the LoC and ambushing a patrol of the Indian army, killing five of its soldiers.
