Did not fire single shot across LoC: Pakistan

Pakistan said Tuesday it did not fire a single shot across the Line of Control as alleged by India. Foreign office spokesman Nafees Zakaria said Pakistan was committed to peace and had never violated the LoC.

“There seems an activity from the other side of the border but on our side, its completely calm. We have no fired a single shot,” Mr Zakaria said.

Another official in Muzaffarabad said there was no firing along the LoC, the de facto border where thousands of Pakis-tani and Indian troops face off against each other. Both sides were on high alert and strengthening their positions, he added.

Earlier, Army spokesman Colonel Rajesh Kalia said there had been a “ceasefire violation” near Uri, where Sunday’s attack took place, but gave no further details. Uri is near the LoC. Eighteen soldiers died in Sunday’s attack, which was the worst of its kind to hit the divided Himalayan region in more than a decade and has increased hostility between the nuclear-armed neighbours.

Occasional violations of a 2003 ceasefire between the nuclear-armed rivals are not uncommon. The last was reported on September 6 and caused no casualties. Several rebel groups have fought an estimated 5,00,000 Indian forces deployed in the territory, demanding independence for the Muslim-majority region or its merger with Pakistan. Tens of thousands of people have died in the fighting, most of them civilians.

Pakistani officials said at least 57 Pakistani citizens were killed and 225 injured in Indian firing on LoC violation in the last two years.

The officials said 315 Indian firing incidents on Pakistani borders had been reported in 2015 in which 18 Pakistani citizens were killed and 74 were injured in Indian shelling.

One official said, “278 unprovoked firing incidents had been reported by Indian forces in 2015 in which 39 citizens were killed and 150 were injured in Indian firing.”

He claimed Indian forces had violated LoC for 44 times in 2016.

On the other hand, he said, 38 Kashmiris have been killed by Indian forces in Kashmir. Curfew is still imposed in Kashmir and Indian forces have been deployed in all over the city.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said Tuesday Pakistan cannot be cowed down through hurling of threats by India. Talking to Pakistan Administrated Kashmir Prime Minister Raja Mohammed Farooq Haider here, he said Pakistan would not step back from its moral, political and diplomatic support to Kashmiri people. He said the “just struggle” of Kashmiris cannot be suppressed by “state repression.” The Minister said “grave human rights violations” in Kashmir and “disrespect to UN resolutions” on Kashmir should be matter of concern for the world body and international community. Mr Khan’s remarks came a day after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif urged powerful world leaders to call upon the Indian government to immediately stop bloodshed in Kashmir and implement relevant resolutions of the United Nations Security Council. Highlighting the violations of international human rights and humanitarian laws in the territory, the primer reminded the permanent members of the UNSC to fulfil their responsibility of the Kashmir dispute — the oldest internationally recognised unresolved dispute on UNSC agenda.