On high alert: A Border Security Force officer checking the passports of Pakistani citizens as they prepare to leave India at the Attari-Wagah border crossing near Amritsar. — Reuters
Pakistani soldiers fired at Indian posts along the highly militarised frontier in disputed Kashmir for a second consecutive night, the Indian military said, as tensions flared between the nuclear-armed rivals following a deadly attack on tourists last week.
India described the massacre, in which gunmen killed 26 people, most of them Indian tourists, as a “terror attack” and accused Pakistan of backing it.
Pakistan denies the charge. The assault, near the resort town of Pahalgam in India-controlled Kashmir, was claimed by a previously unknown militant group calling itself the Kashmir Resistance.
It was the restive region’s worst assault targeting civilians in years. In the days since, tensions have risen dangerously between India and Pakistan, which have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir. The region is split between them and claimed by both in its entirety.
The Indian army said that soldiers from multiple Pakistani army posts overnight opened fire at Indian troops “all across the Line of Control” in Kashmir.
“Indian troops responded appropriately with small arms,” the statement said yesterday.
There were no casualties reported, the statement added.
There was no comment from Pakistan, and the incidents could not be independently verified.
In the past, each side has accused the other of starting border skirmishes in the region.
Markets and bazaars were open in Pakistan-administered Kashmir yesterday, and there was no sign of evacuations from villages located near the Line of Control.
After the tourist attack, India suspended a crucial water-sharing treaty and closed the only functional land border crossing.
It revoked visas issued to Pakistanis with effect from today.
Pakistan retaliated by cancelling visas issued to Indians, closing its airspace to Indian-owned or Indian-operated airlines, and suspending trade with India.
Nationals from both sides began heading to their home countries through the Wagah border near Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore on Friday.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif yesterday vowed the government would respond “with full force and might” to Indian attempts to stop or divert the flow of water.
He also said Pakistan was open to participating in any “neutral, transparent and credible investigation” into the tourist attack.
New Delhi describes all militancy in Kashmir as Pakistan-backed terrorism, a charge Pakistan rejects.
Many Muslim Kashmiris consider the militants to be part of a home-grown freedom struggle.
Rebels have been fighting Indian rule since 1989 for uniting the territory, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country.
With tensions high between the two countries, Iran offered mediation, while US President Donald Trump said he expected them to work out their differences.
“Teheran stands ready to use its good offices in Islamabad and New Delhi to forge greater understanding at this difficult time,” Iranian Foreign Minister Syed Abbas Araghchi said.
“India and Pakistan are brotherly neighbours of Iran, enjoying relations rooted in centuries-old cultural and civilisational ties. Like other neighbours, we consider them our foremost priority,” Araghchi wrote in a social media post on Friday.
Trump on Friday said “there’s great tension between Pakistan and India, but there always has been”.
Trump, who spoke on board Air Force One, did not answer when asked by reporters whether he would contact leaders of the two countries, but said “they’ll get it figured out one way or the other”.
Shortly after Tuesday’s attack, Indian forces intensified a crackdown in the Kashmir Valley, the heartland of anti-India rebellion.
They detained and questioned at least 1,500 people, three police officials said.
Troops detonated explosives in the family homes of at least three suspected militants in southern Kashmir Friday night, residents said.
In one such incident, dozens of other houses also suffered damage, with their windowpanes shattering and walls cracking due to the impact of the blast.
The police officials insisted on anonymity, in keeping with their departmental policy, while the villagers feared reprisals from authorities.
Early Friday, troops also destroyed the family homes of two suspected militants they accused of being involved in Tuesday’s attack. — AP
