Pakistan protests with UN team over Indian shelling

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) - Pakistan on Wednesday lodged a protest with a UN military observer group over “unprovoked firing and shelling” by Indian troops along the Kashmir border.

The incidents of cross-border firing killed at least one civilian and injured more than a dozen people including women and children over the last one week.

The UN Military Observers permanently deputed along the Line of Control (LoC), the de facto border that divides the disputed Himalayan valley between the two nuclear-armed rivals, were invited to Pakistan army’s headquarters in garrison city of Rawalpindi, the military said in a statement.

The protest was registered with the observers over “unprovoked ceasefire violations and targeting of civilian population by Indian army”, it said.

The observers were also apprised with latest situation along the LoC, it added.

Tensions between the two nuclear neighbors have failed to ease after 19 Indian soldiers were killed in Indian-held Kashmir last September by militants India has claimed had links to Pakistan.

Pakistan, however, denied the charge and itself accused India of “unleashing a reign of terror” against defenseless Kashmiris in the occupied valley.

Kashmir, a Muslim-majority Himalayan region, is held by India and Pakistan in parts and claimed by both in full. A small sliver of Kashmir is also held by China.

The two countries have fought three wars – in 1948, 1965 and 1971 – since they were partitioned in 1947, two of which were fought over Kashmir.

Kashmiri resistance groups in Jammu and Kashmir have been fighting against Indian rule for independence, or for unification with neighboring Pakistan.

More than 70,000 people have reportedly been killed in the conflict since 1989. India maintains more than half a million troops in the disputed region.