Wednesday, July 15, 2015

India Lodges Strong Protest With Pakistan Over Ceasefire Violations: Sources

New Delhi:  India has lodged a strong protest with Pakistan’s envoy in New Delhi over ceasefire violations in Jammu and Kashmir, in which a civilian was killed on Wednesday.

Pakistan has also summoned the Indian envoy after saying it shot down an Indian “spy” drone on Wednesday, a claim that has been denied by New Delhi.


Government sources said it was a “strange coincidence that Pakistan claimed  it shot down Indian drone soon after the violation.”


Islamabad has said it wants to convey to Indian High Commissioner TCA Raghavan its protest over what it claims was an intrusion of its air space. It claims that India had sent the drone for aerial photography near the Line of Control and it was shot down in the Bhimber area of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. The drone was “brought down for violation of Pakistan’s territorial integrity,” claimed the Pakistan army.


The Indian military has denied Pakistan’s claims. “Some reports of a drone crash in POK (Pakistan Occupied Kashmir) are being referred to. No drone or UAV crash of Indian Army has taken place,” the defence ministry said in a statement.


The incident comes days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif held talks on the sidelines of a regional summit in Ufa in Russia. In a joint statement after the talks, the two countries decided to arrange meetings of senior military officials to reduce tension along the border.


Soon after the talks, however, there have been incidents of firing from across the border.


On Wednesday, there was firing by Pakistani soldiers along the International Border in Jammu, ahead of PM Modi’s visit on Friday. A woman was killed and six, including two soldiers, were injured in the firing in Akhnoor, the seventh ceasefire violation by Pakistani troops this month.


“We are disappointed at the developments which have taken place this morning. There was major ceasefire violation committed by Pakistani forces in Akhnoor sector which led to casualties in India. I spoke to the (Pak) foreign secretary this morning and again in the afternoon,” said the Indian envoy in Islamabad.


No comments:

Post a Comment