Pakistan, India LoC Skirmishes Prompt Global Calls for Peaceful Settlement

Islamabad — The United Nations and major powers have urged Pakistan and India to reduce tensions and peacefully resolve disputes amid mounting hostilities in the disputed Kashmir region.

Indian soldiers killed at least two Pakistani soldiers along the Line of Control (LoC) dividing Kashmir on Thursday after suspected militants attacked an Indian army base in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Sept. 18 that killed at least 18 soldiers.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack. The Indian authorities blamed the Pakistan-based “Jaish-e-Muhammad” group and, as part of a blame-game, India pointed fingers back at Pakistan. Pakistan, in turn, rejected India’s accusation.

Tensions grew after head of the Indian military operations, Lt. Gen. Ranbir Singh’s, claims of surgical strikes inside Pakistan-controlled Kashmir and “inflicting heavy casualties on the terrorists and those protecting them.”

In order to prove the Indian claims as false, the Pakistani military’s information wing took media personnel to the LoC on Saturday where the military spokesman, Lt. Gen. Asim Bajwa, said that there was no question of the surgical strikes occurring as Pakistani troops are deployed everywhere along the LoC.

The escalation of tension along the LoC has led to fears among the people in both countries about rising hostilities henceforth.

The global community is also alarmed at the situation and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon offered to mediate between Pakistan and India to reduce the tension.

The rising tension is negatively impacting the wider situation between Pakistan and India. People in both countries are becoming increasingly concerned in the wake of the media coverage of the events.

Pakistani and Indian media are reporting that some people living near the LoC have started shifting to safer places in the wake of the resumption of the exchange of shelling. Schools have also been closed in some districts near the LoC in Indian-controlled Kashmir, according to Indian reports.

The ongoing tension, while contributing to unease in the region, has also sabotaged a key regional summit that was to be held in Islamabad in November, but was postponed after India and other countries pulled out. The summit of the eight-country SAARC grouping cannot be held if one of its members declines to take part.

Saeed Chaudhry, director of the Islamabad Council for International Affairs, said there are chances of further exchanges of fire along the LoC, but they will not spread to the international border, since “both countries know that if they were to trigger anything larger, it will not be a limited war, it will bring great losses to both sides.” (PNA/Xinhua) BNB/EBP