India relocates 10,000 from around Kashmir as tensions rise
India relocated more than 10,000 people from around the disputed border area of Kashmir as tensions with Pakistan continue to escalate.
The two nations exchanged gunfire Saturday morning, with each side accusing the other of provocation, as tensions rose yet again between the two nuclear neighbors.
Simrandeep Singh, magistrate of Jammu District in India, accused Pakistani troops of firing across the Line of Control in two separate incidents. There were no fatalities, according to Singh.
The Line of Control divides Indian and Pakistani-controlled parts of Kashmir.
“We have set up 47 camps to accommodate those migrating from the border areas,” he said.
Pointing fingers
The Pakistani military put the blame on India, saying its troops “befittingly responded to Indian unprovoked firing.”
A spokesman for the UN chief Ban Ki-moon said the Secretary-General has offered to mediate the matter.
India conducts ‘surgical attacks’
On Thursday, India conducted “surgical attacks” on what it is calling terrorist bases across the disputed line of control. Pakistan has denied the presence of these bases on its side of the border. Two of its soldiers were killed in Thursday’s attack.
After an emergency Cabinet meeting Friday, the Prime Minister’s office said in a statement that the Cabinet “joined the Prime Minister in completely rejecting the Indian claims of carrying out “surgical strikes.”
On Friday evening, the Pakistani leader’s office confirmed it would convene a meeting of Heads of Parliamentary Parties on Monday to discuss the crisis.
The United Nations said it was “following this situation with great concern” and urged both sides to exercise restraint.
‘Credible information’
Indian Lt. Gen. Ranbir Singh told reporters Thursday the strikes had been based on “specific credible information” that militants were planning to carry out strikes in Indian cities, including Jammu.
“The operations were basically focused to ensure that these terrorists do not succeed in their design of infiltration and carrying out destruction and endangering the lives of citizens in our country,” he said.
However, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif condemned the attack in a statement, calling it “unprovoked and naked aggression” of Indian forces.
He said Pakistan’s forces were capable of defending their territory and would stop any “evil design” against their country. “No external force has the capability or capacity to challenge the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Pakistan,” he said.
Long disputed territory
Kashmir, a Muslim-majority region, has been disputed territory between India and Pakistan for the past 70 years.
Both of the nuclear-armed countries hold separate parts of it and have fought two wars, in 1947 and 1965, over their claims. They came close to a third, in 1999.