India’s military Friday said it will shortly return the body of a Pakistan soldier killed a day earlier after he crossed into the Indian territory in the divided Himalayan region of Kashmir, adding to already testy relations between the South Asian nations.
Col. Jagdeep Dahiya, a spokesman of the Indian military, said the unnamed soldier crossed the Line of Control, the de facto border in Kashmir, Thursday and fired on an Indian army post, injuring two Indian soldiers. He was killed in “retaliatory fire,” Col. Dahiya said.
ndia has accepted Pakistan’s request Friday morning to send the body of the soldier back “with full honor,” he said.
Col. Abid Askari, a spokesman for Pakistan’s military, denied the soldier had fired on Indian posts.
The soldier had “lost his way which happens all the time on the LoC [Line of Control],” he said. “We would like to know from the Indian side why was he killed.”
Pakistan and India have fought three wars, two of them over Kashmir, a territory which was divided between the two countries in 1948 at the end of the first conflict. The two sides have been attempting to improve ties through peace talks, and they have agreed to increase trade and ease travel curbs.
The latest incident comes shortly after tensions between India and Pakistan reignited last month when they were involved in a tit-for-tat recriminations over deaths of soldiers on the border.
India claimed Pakistani forces killed two of its soldiers and mutilated the bodies. Pakistan denied any wrongdoing and instead alleged Indian troops of intruding onto Pakistan’s side, killing and injuring their soldiers. India has denied having crossed into its neighbor’s territory, but has accepted to firing in retaliation.
Clashes between the soldiers on the Line of Control aren’t unusual. But incidents such as those in January and the latest killing, as well as a separate exchange of fire Thursday between the two militaries on the border, keep the two countries on the edge.
“We hope the incidents will not escalate,” said Col. Dahiya.
Col. Askari said the incidents “weren’t good.” He didn’t elaborate.
