United Nations (UN) Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon Monday expressed concerns over heightened Pakistan-India tensions at the Line of Control (LoC) and urged the two nuclear-armed neighbours to resolve all their outstanding issues through dialogue.
“Ban Ki-Moon has appealed Pakistan and India to resolve their all outstanding issues through dialogues,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told the media during a press briefing.
On Monday, three Pakistani civilians were martyred and five others wounded in Indian shelling across the disputed border with Pakistan in the Himalayan region of Kashmir, Pakistani officials said, as tension simmers between the nuclear-armed neighbours.
In July, occupying Indian security forces killed a Kashmiri youth leader in Indian-held Kashmir (IHK), prompting months of protests and a corresponding security crackdown that has claimed more than 100 lives.
Tensions mounted further in September when 18 Indian soldiers were killed at an army base in Uri, IHK, in an attack Delhi blamed on Pakistan-based militants.
Pakistan denied that it was involved in that attack.
Last week, both countries expelled each others’ diplomats and named a number of others as being involved in espionage.
Violations of a 2003 ceasefire agreement on the de-facto border have been a regular occurring in the last two months.
