File Photo. Tauseef Mustafa—AFP
Foreign Ministry statement claims the cross-border firing coincided with Eid holidays.
Pakistan has accused India of another breach of their ceasefire in the disputed Kashmir region, after reporting the death of four civilians in earlier cross-border shelling.
Indian troops opened fire Saturday in the Poonch sector of the Line of Control (LoC), the region’s de facto border, using small arms, rockets, mortars and heavy machine gun fire, said a foreign ministry statement in Islamabad. The statement was issued late Saturday, days after Islamabad summoned the Indian ambassador after what it called an Indian spy drone was shot down in Kashmir.
“It is deeply regretted that once again the ceasefire violations by the Indian troops are being committed during the Eid holidays, as was done by them last year, when many innocent civilians were martyred,” the statement said, referring to the festival that ends Ramzan.
Pakistani officials earlier said Indian fire on Wednesday and Thursday killed four civilians, one in Kashmir itself and three near the town of Sialkot close to the border. “Pakistan lodges protest at the provocative act, which is against the spirit of the understanding reached at the Ufa meeting, and hopes that the Indian government would observe the understanding reached between the two sides during 2003,” its latest statement said, referring to the Saturday incident.
Muslim-majority Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan, but claimed in full by both, since the two countries gained independence from Britain in 1947. A border ceasefire agreed in 2003 has largely held, with occasional violations reported from both sides.