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Five civilians killed in Pak ceasefire violation in Kashmir

By FnF Defence Correspondent | PUBLISHED: 06, Oct 2014, 15:44 pm IST | UPDATED: 06, Oct 2014, 15:48 pm IST

Five civilians killed in Pak ceasefire violation in Kashmir New Delhi: Five Indian civilians were killed and at least 25 wounded on Monday in fighting along a stretch of the border with Pakistan in the Kashmir region, the heaviest toll since India called off a round of peace talks last month.

The Himalayan region of Kashmir has been a bone of contention between India and Pakistan since they became independent in 1947. They have fought three wars and came close to a fourth in 2001 and there have been regular clashes along the Line of Control (LoC), in the area.

Pakistani forces shelled the village of Arnia about three km (two miles) from the border in the early hours of Monday, killing and wounding the civilians, according to Rakesh Kumar, an inspector general of the Indian border security forces.

The attack coincided with the Eid al-Adha festival, celebrated by Muslims in both countries. Pakistan's army did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Another Indian officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Brijesh Panday, said the army later shot dead three Pakistani–based militants trying to cross into India further along the heavily militarized LoC. Two militants escaped back to Pakistan, he said.

Muslim separatists have been fighting Indian forces in India's part of Kashmir since 1989. Pakistan rejects Indian accusations that it trains and arms the rebels in the part of Kashmir it controls and sends them into the Indian side.

The latest round of mortar and gunfire began on Friday, when Pakistan's army said it responded to "unprovoked firing" from the Indian side.

Indian Defence Minister Arun Jaitley said the army would retaliate to the latest violence.

"Let everybody be assured that our armed forces, our paramilitary forces are fully ready and they are responding to each of these provocations," Jaitley said.

Pakistan's army separately attacked 10 Indian army posts along the LoC, according to Indian army officials in Indian Kashmir. Gunfire continued between the two sides in those areas on Monday, they said.

The violence will put more strain on ties between the nuclear-armed rivals who called off top-level diplomatic talks after Pakistan consulted Kashmiri separatists ahead of talks.

The cancellation dashed any hopes for any progress on peace after the election of India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi."Pakistan must realize that the kind of environment this is generating between the two countries is certainly not going to help in normalising the relationships," Jaitley said.

Modi surprised many observers by inviting Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to his inauguration in May.

But relations have soured since Modi called off talks last month. He did not meet Sharif on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September.
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