India crosses the line again, kills Pakistani soldier

Indian forces shelled a Pakistani post in Tatta Pani sector on the Line of Control (LoC) killing a soldier on Thursday, just as a spokesman of the United Nations said the UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) had received an official complaint from the Pakistan Army and it would conduct a probe into the ceasefire violations on LoC.
India, however, rejected Pakistan’s offer for a UN investigation into the alleged killings of two Indian soldiers.
According to a statement issued by the ISPR, a Pakistani soldier, Hawaldar Mohyuddin, was killed as a result of the Indian shelling. It added that the army was currently busy in retaliatory fire.
On January 6, Indian troops violated the LoC at Bagh area and crossed over to the Hajipir sector. Indian troops attacked a security checkpost, injuring two Pakistani soldiers, one of whom succumbed to his injuries later. “Today, India troops resorted to unprovoked firing at a Pakistani post named Kundi,” it added.
Earlier, Indian Finance Minister P Chidambaram rejected “any suggestion” that the UN investigate the killing of the two soldiers. Speaking to an Indian news channel on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar had rejected India’s claim that the Pakistan Army was responsible for the killing of two Indian soldiers on the Indian side of the LoC and offered a “third party” investigation.
Chidambaram told reporters in New Delhi that India would not like to “internationalise” the matter. He also denied Pakistan’s allegation that India had carried out a cross-border raid at the LoC on Sunday.
UN observer group: Earlier, a spokesman for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Martin Nesirky was quoted as saying, “Regarding the January 6 alleged incident, the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan, or UNMOGIP, has received an official complaint from the Pakistan Army and will conduct an investigation as soon as possible in accordance with its mandate,”
Pakistan had accused Indian troops of killing one of its soldiers while Indian officials charged Pakistani troops with sneaking into Jammu and Kashmir’s Mendhar sector, and killing two Indian soldiers, and mutilating their bodies. On the second “alleged incident” that occurred on January 8, “no official complaint has been received either from the Pakistan Army or Indian Army”, Nesirky said. “UNMOGIP is aware that the Pakistan Army and Indian Army are in contact via the hotline and urges both sides to respect the cease fire and de-escalate tensions through dialogue,” he said. “Pakistan strongly rejects the Indian allegation of an attack across the Line of Control (LoC) on its military patrol in which two Indian soldiers were claimed to have been killed. These are baseless and unfounded allegations,” the Pakistani Foreign Office said in a statement.
The FO said Pakistan was prepared to launch an investigation through the UNMOGIP on the ceasefire violations.
The director general of military operations of the Pakistan Army yesterday spoke to his Indian counterpart over the telephone and rejected New Delhi’s claim.
Dialogue to continue: Meanwhile, addressing a press conference at the Foreign Office after a meeting with Foreign Minister of Thailand Surapong Tovichakachaikul on Thursday, Khar said Pakistan was serious in continuing dialogue with India and hoped that the recent incident of firing across the LoC in Kashmir would not derail the process. She said Pakistan wanted to normalise relation with Indian. She said Islamabad had already responded to the LoC incident and rejected India’s claim that the Pakistan Army was responsible for the killing of two Indian Army soldiers on the Indian side of the LoC.
She said Pakistan always respected the ceasefire that was in force since 2003. “We want to respect the cease-fire of 2003; this is absolutely unacceptable for such allegations to be made,” Khar said.
The foreign minister said Pakistan did not want to respond to every statement being published in the Indian media, adding that Pakistan had responded officially to this incident and emphasised the need that available mechanism should be adopted to resolve the issue. She said the military operations directors general of two countries had contacted to discuss the issue and Pakistan had also contacted the UNMOGIP to investigate it.
To a question, she said, “Both the countries have a mechanism to deal such issues and as responsible states, we have to adopt this mechanism.” Appreciating the positive role of the Pakistani media and bemoaning the hostile attitude of the Indian media, Khar said irresponsible statements could create disturbance in the Pak-India relations. She said there were contradictory statements from India on their claim about killing of two army jawans in Indian-held Kashmir. To a question about delay in giving Most Favoured Nation status to India, the foreign minister said Pakistan was committed to normalising its relations in all spectra of their relations including in trade. She said normalising trade relations with India is under-process and said that there could be a delay of few weeks in taking final decision in this regard.
However, she said there should be no visible or invisible barriers in smooth trading between the two countries.