India resorts to ‘unprovoked firing at LoC, Pakistan fires back

Indian govt insists talks will only be held on terror and not on Kashmir

A day after Pakistan said it wanted an exclusive dialogue with India on Kashmir, India responded saying it was ready for talks – but only on “relevant issues” which include cross-border terrorism and follow-up on the terror attacks in Mumbai and Pathankot. On the same day, as Pakistan celebrated its Independence Day, Pakistani troops and Indian Border Security Forces (BSF) exchanged fire across the Line of Control (LoC), after Indian troops resorted to “unprovoked firing”, an Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) statement said Sunday.

The ISPR said that the BSF fired without provocation in the Nezapir sector near Rawalakot between 2 Am to 8:30 AM on Aug 14.

No casualties have been reported so far on either side of the working boundary.

“India used all types of heavy weapons including mortar and artillery,” the statement said. “Some of the rounds landed at civilian houses near the LoC.”

Pakistani troops gave a ‘befitting response’ to the BSF’s ‘unprovoked firing’, the ISPR said.

The Indian government, meanwhile, said India is ready to talk with Pakistan but only on ‘relevant issues’ and not on Kashmir.

“India would welcome a dialogue on contemporary and relevant issues in India-Pakistan relations,” said External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup.

The list, India said, will also include “infiltration of terrorists like Bahadur Ali, incitement to violence and terrorism across the border, parading of terrorists like Hafiz Saeed and Syed Salahuddin and follow up on the Mumbai attack trial and the Pathankot attack investigation in Pakistan.”

Underscoring that addressing terrorism is “central to our engagement”, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said, “Unlike in the past, we can’t agree that dialogue with sponsors and supporters of terrorism should carry on without being linked to action in that regard.”

Pakistan’s invitation for talks came as Prime Minister Narendra Modi, at an all-party meet on Kashmir on Saturday, said, “Pakistan Occupied Kashmir is ours” and blamed the current unrest in Jammu and Kashmir on cross-border terrorism.

Bilateral dialogue was suspended after a group of terrorists attacked the Indian air base at Pathankot in Indian Punjab in January. After its team visited the air base, Pakistan said India has failed to provide enough evidence that the attack was carried out by terrorists from across the border.

PAKISTANI, INDIAN TROOPS EXCHANGE FIRE ACROSS LOC ON INDEPENDENCE DAY:

Indian troops resorted to unprovoked firing across the LoC early Sunday on the morning of August 14, the day marking Pakistan’s independence 70 years ago.

“India used all types of heavy weapons including mortar and artillery. Some of the rounds landed at even civilian houses near LoC. No loss of life reported so far,” the ISPR statement said.

Indian Defence Spokesman Lt Col Manish Mehta, however, claimed that the Pakistan Army resorted to an unprovoked ceasefire violation along the LoC in the Poonch sector, Times of India reported. “Our troops are responding appropriately,” Col. Mehta said.

This is the first ceasefire violation in four months, ToI reported. Despite a 2003 border ceasefire agreement signed by both countries, cross-border firing along the working boundary is intermittent with both parties frequently accusing the other of breaching it.

DGMO LODGES PROTEST:

The director general of military operations (DGMO) of the Pakistan Army contacted his Indian counterpart and lodged a protest against the unprovoked firing by Indian troops at the Nezapir sector of the LoC, said an ISPR statement.

The statement added that contact was made via the hotline established between the two DGMOs.

Reports of cross-border firing come as tensions between India and Pakistan are heightened following unrest in India-held Kashmir (IHK) despite Pakistan’s recent proposal of a dedicated dialogue on Kashmir with India, as well as a bilateral moratorium on the testing of nuclear weapons.

The killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani sparked anti-government protests in the restive Himalayan region, with over 70 people dead in clashes between protesters and Indian authorities.

Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar and Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh traded barbs at the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Interior Ministers’ meeting in Islamabad earlier in August.

Nisar issued a rejoinder to Rajnath when the Indian minister indirectly accused Pakistan of sponsoring terrorism, terming the use of “torture against innocent children and violence against civilians” as terrorism.

The interior minister stressed the need to “take time out to reflect and sit together to try and work out the problems and reservations that we might harbour towards each other” instead of engaging in blame games and taking swipes at each other.

Pakistan had also called for sending a UNHCR and an OIC Contact Group’s delegation to Kashmir to observe Indian forces’ atrocities on unarmed civilians but India snubbed the proposal.