Indian troops resort to unprovoked shelling at LoC: ISPR

RAWALPINDI: Indian troops on Friday resorted to unprovoked mortar shelling for an hour at the Chirikot Sector along the Line of Control (LoC), said Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR).

“Unprovoked mortar shelling by Indian troops on Line of Control in Chirikot Sector was carried out from 4:40 pm to 5:40 pm,” Director General (DG) ISPR Major General Asif Ghafoor said in a tweet.

Pakistani troops effectively responded the unprovoked shelling, he added.

Unprovoked mortar shelling by Indian troops on Line of Con in Chirikot Sec from 4:40 pm to 5:40 pm. Effectively responded by own troops.

— Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor (@OfficialDGISPR) December 30, 2016

Tension between Pakistan and India has been high since July, when Indian forces killed a young Kashmiri fighter in Indian-held Kashmir, prompting months of protests and a security crackdown that has claimed several lives.

Both countries claim Kashmir but administer separate parts, divided by a de facto border. Since independence from the British in 1947, they have fought two of their three wars over the territory.

Tension ratcheted further in September, when 18 Indian soldiers were killed at an army base in Indian-held Kashmir, in an attack Delhi blamed on Pakistan-based militants. However, Pakistan denied that it was involved in that attack.

Several days later, India claimed it had carried out ‘surgical strikes’ on militant bases across the border, a claim Pakistan dismissed as ‘an illusion’.

Both countries also expelled each others’ diplomats and named a number of others as being involved in spying.

Violations of a 2003 ceasefire on the de facto border have regularly occurred since then.