NEW DELHI: Pakistan on Monday summoned India’s envoy in Islamabad to protest against the killing of its seven soldiers in “unprovoked firing” by the Indian Army and threatened that the Indian attitude might lead to a “strategic miscalculation”, a euphemism for a nuclear attack.
“He (Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry) emphasized that this belligerent attitude of Indian occupation forces was a serious threat to the regional peace and security and may lead to strategic miscalculation,” said a statement issued by the Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Chaudhry summoned High Commissioner Gautam Bambawale and deplored the “increasing” Indian ceasefire violations. Pakistan’s Inter Services Public Relations on Monday announced that seven of its soldiers were killed in Bhimber sector on Sunday night.
“Seven soldiers embraced shahadat (martyrdom) at the Line of Control in Bhimber sector in a ceasefire violation by Indian troops late last night. Pakistani troops, while responding to Indian unprovoked firing, targeted Indian posts effectively,” the agency said on Monday morning.
Pakistan is pursuing a “policy of restraint”, which should not be construed as a sign of weakness, the statement quoted Chaudhry as saying. He said Pakistan forces did not initiate fire, but would always respond in a befitting manner if fired upon, it said. It is for the second time in a week that Pakistan has summoned the Indian envoy.
For his part, the Indian envoy protested against “unprovoked firing” by Pakistan and said “it was to provide cover to infiltrators, resulting in the deaths of several Indian civilian and soldiers”. Earlier in the day, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif asserted that his country was fully capable of defending its territory against “any aggression”.
Sharif expressed grief over the loss of lives in the “latest violation of the LoC by Indian forces” and claimed the Indian forces had resorted to escalating the tension only to “uselessly divert” the world’s attention from the “grave human rights situation” in Kashmir.
As tensions simmer, cross-border firings and casualties have become the order of the day between the two nuclear-armed neighbors. The frequent exchange fire along the de-facto border means the ceasefire agreement that came into existence in 2003 is unofficially off. Both countries have been summoning each other’s diplomats on a fairly regular basis.
On November 9, the Army had reported that one of its soldiers was killed in Pakistan firing and that it responded by “fire assault with heavy weapons”. The Pakistan army has claimed that India has been resorting to artillery firing along the border.
The ceasefire agreement was signed in 2003 between the two countries after the Parliament attack. The agreement meant cessation of firing along the LoC, international border and the Actual Ground Position Line but since India carried out surgical strikes in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in September, the truce violations have spiked to 286.
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