10 civilians die in disputed border
Print Edition
AT least 10 civilians were killed yesterday as India and Pakistan traded fire across their disputed border, less than a week after high-level talks were aborted amid a row over Kashmir.
Six died near the city of Sialkot in Pakistan’s Punjab province and at least four villagers were killed in Indian-administered Kashmir. Officials said more than 50 others were wounded.
A meeting between the Indian and Pakistani national security advisors in New Delhi on Sunday was called off at the last minute amid a dispute about whether the agenda should include Kashmir.
In a statement issued to the media, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Pakistan summoned the Indian High Commissioner in Islamabad to lodge protest against ceasefire violations.
“The Government of Pakistan strongly protested over the latest ceasefire violations by India in Harpal and Chaprar sectors at the Working Boundary resulting in shahadat (martyrdom) of six civilians, including a woman and a child,” it said
The two sides regularly fire shells and mortars across the disputed border both in Kashmir and to the south in Punjab, killing civilians.
A senior Pakistani security official said that Indian forces began firing around 3am yesterday and continued intermittently during the morning.
“Six civilians embraced shahadat and 46 were severely injured including 22 females due to Indian unprovoked firing/shelling on working boundary near Sialkot in Chaprar and Harpal sector,” a statement from the Pakistani military said, adding that they had returned fire.
In Indian-controlled Kashmir, Border Security Force official Rakesh Kumar Sharma accused Pakistan of targeting civilians with “unprovoked” mortar fire.
“Four villagers died in the shelling from across the border, three of them were killed early morning and one died of injuries in a hospital later,” Pawan Kotwal, the top administrator of the region said.
Another BSF officer put the number of injured at 16.
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