News / India

Clashes on Kashmir border end India-Pakistan brief truce

Sunday, 03 June 2018 1:43 PM [ Last Update: Sunday, 03 June 2018 5:35 PM ]

In this October 3, 2016 file photo, an Indian Border Security Force (BSF) soldier is seen patrolling along a fence at the India-Pakistan border in R.S Pora, southwest of Jammu. (AFP photo)

A salvo of gun and mortar fire across the border of Kashmir has ended a brief truce between India and Pakistan in the disputed Himalayan region.

Authorities in the Indian-ruled Kashmir said Sunday that two guards were killed and seven civilians were injured in the border region of Aknoor after Pakistani soldiers opened unprovoked fire from Sialkot in the Pakistani side of the frontier.

Speaking from Jammu, the winter capital of Kashmir, Border force spokesman Manoj Yadav said those killed had died of their injuries in a nearby hospital, adding that Indian troops also returned fire after the clashes erupted in early hours of Sunday.

“The injured soldiers were immediately evacuated to a military hospital where they later succumbed [to their injuries],” said Yadav.

The exchange of fire effectively ends a days-long truce reached between India and Pakistan across the border which divides Kashmir between the two nuclear-armed neighbors.

The two pledged earlier this week to respect the conditions laid out in a 2003 ceasefire “in letter and spirit”, encouraging thousands of civilians to return to their homes after weeks of shelling. The truce was meant to end some of the highest levels of violence seen in the region over the past 15 years. Dozens have been killed from the two sides over the past months as New Delhi and Islamabad both blame each other for violating the ceasefire.

The violence comes amid an uptick of unrest inside the India-ruled Kashmir where people have been protesting against brutality of security forces in dealing with anti-government demonstrations. Several people were injured during clashes on Saturday which came during a funeral held for a young man who had been overrun and killed by a police car a day earlier.

India, which maintains some 500,000 troops across Kashmir, accuses Pakistan of fueling an insurgency that has killed tens of thousands of civilians since the region broke up from Britain’s colonial rule and was divided between the two countries. Most of people in Kashmir, India’s only Muslim-dominated state, want either independence or a merger with Pakistan.

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