India says it raised cross-border fire issue with Pakistan through 'diplomatic channels’

ANKARA

India has raised through “diplomatic channels” with Pakistan recent cross-border firing incidents along the international border in disputed Jammu and Kashmir, New Delhi’s Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.

Asked about the incidents, ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi told a weekly press briefing that apart from the Indian Border Security Force taking up the matter with the Pakistani side, the issue was put before Pakistan “through diplomatic channels as well."

Bagchi also said incidents of "cross-border infiltrations" and “cease-fire violations,” are violations of bilateral agreements, and India always raise such matters with Pakistan.

In the last few weeks, Indian and Pakistani soldiers deployed along the international border in disputed Jammu and Kashmir have exchanged fire in the Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir.

The sides released conflicting statements blaming each other for the incidents.

India’s Border Security Force said on Thursday that overnight one of its personnel “sacrificed his life during unprovoked firing” by Pakistan on the international border in Jammu.

Following August 2019, when India scrapped the autonomous status of Jammu and Kashmir, dozens of people have been killed and scores of others injured in cross-border firing.

In February 2021, military leaders of the nuclear-armed South Asian neighbors agreed to de-escalate tension and strictly observe a 2003 cease-fire agreement along the Line of Control (LoC) that divides the disputed Himalayan region between the two countries.

- Disputed region

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.

Since they were partitioned in 1947, the two countries have fought three wars – in 1948, 1965, and 1971 – two of them over Kashmir.

Also, in the Siachen glacier in northern Kashmir, Indian and Pakistani troops have fought intermittently since 1984. A cease-fire went into effect in 2003.

In August 2019, India scrapped the longstanding semi-autonomous status of the disputed valley, a controversial move that prompted Islamabad to downgrade its diplomatic mission and halt trade with New Delhi.

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

According to several human rights groups, thousands of people have been killed in the conflict in the region since 1989.