ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday summoned India’s deputy high commissioner in Islamabad to protest the killing of a Pakistani villager in “unprovoked firing” by Indian troops in the Himalayan region of Kashmir.
Abdul Rauf was fatally shot by Indian security forces Tuesday in the Kotkoterra Sector while grazing animals, according to a Pakistani military statement.
The Foreign Ministry summoned the Indian diplomat and condemned what it said was an unprovoked ceasefire violation by Indian forces.
“The ceasefire violations by India are a threat to regional peace and security and may lead to a strategic miscalculation,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The Indian military said no such incident took place Tuesday in the disputed region.
Lt. Col. Devender Anand, an Indian army spokesman, however, said soldiers killed an “intruder” on the Indian side after he sneaked in from Pakistan on Wednesday in the Rajouri sector. He did not give any other details.
The developments come as US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived on a short visit to Islamabad before going to India.
Pakistan and India often exchange fire in Kashmir along the Line of Control that serves as a frontier in the disputed region, divided between the two nuclear-armed south Asian neighbors.
The two sides signed a cease-fire agreement in 2003 but both often violate it and accuse each other of ‘unprovoked firing’.
The two nations claim Kashmir in its entirety and have fought two of their three wars over it since they gained independence from British rule.