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Thursday, August 08, 2013
Pak soldiers injured in new LoC clashIndia faces pressure to scrap peace talks
ISLAMABAD: Two Pakistani soldiers were wounded in an exchange of fire with Indian troops along the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir in the latest flare-up of tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours, officials on both sides said on Wednesday.
The shooting came just hours after India accused Pakistani forces of killing five Indian soldiers along the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir in an incident that threatened to derail repeatedly stalled peace talks.
A Pakistani military official blamed “unprovoked Indian firing” for injuries to the Pakistanis on Tuesday afternoon and said that senior army commanders on both sides had spoken over a special hotline.
“Pakistan Army DG MO (director general of military operations) strongly and categorically rejected Indian allegations of LoC violation by Pakistani troops,” said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to discuss operational issues with the press. A senior Indian army officer in northern Kashmir said two Pakistani soldiers had been wounded – or possibly killed – in an exchange of machinegun fire in Kamalkot Uri sector in northern Kashmir around midday on Tuesday.
He alleged Pakistani troops had opened fire and Indian forces had retaliated.
Meanwhile, the Indian government faced mounting pressure to put proposed peace talks with Pakistan back in the deep freeze.
The opposition accused the government of letting Pakistan off the hook over the killing of five Indian soldiers in Kashmir, as the attack overnight Monday triggered uproar in parliament.
“Our defence minister has given a clean chit to Pakistan,” Sushma Swaraj, lower house leader of the opposition Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, told the Indian parliament. Also on Wednesday, Foreign Office in Islamabad summoned the Indian deputy high commissioner after members of Indian National Congress Party’s Youth Wing attacked Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi.
Pakistan told the Indian official that the security of Pakistani High Commission and Pakistan House was responsibility of the Indian government. agencies
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk