MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan: Residents near the disputed boundary in the divided Kashmir region on Sunday experienced their first lull since a dangerous escalation between Pakistan and India erupted last week, bringing the two nuclear-armed rivals close to war.
Many villagers used the calm in Pakistan-administered Kashmir to leave their homes in the Chakoti area along the Line of Control (LoC)— the demarcation line that divides the troubled Himalayan region into an Indian and a Pakistani sector — and move to safety.
Nazakat Hussain said his family and others lack underground shelters and had to leave. He said cold weather and snow, along with cross-border shooting, prevented them from leaving earlier.
Pakistani government official Moazzam Zafar said some 200 families have already taken shelter in three large government buildings in the territory. Zafar said the authorities were providing warm clothing, bedding, food and medicines, and would establish more shelters.
At least eight civilians and two soldiers have been killed in Pakistan-administered Kashmir since tensions soared following India’s airstrike last Tuesday inside Pakistan. India said the strike targeted militants behind a Feb. 14 suicide bombing in Indian-administered part of Kashmir that killed more than 40 Indian troops.
Pakistan retaliated, shooting down a fighter jet on Wednesday and detaining its pilot, who was returned to India on Friday. India, in turn, on Saturday handed over the body of a Pakistani civilian prisoner beaten to death by inmates in a jail in India last week. The man, Skahir Ullah, was buried Sunday in his home village of Sialkot in Punjab province.
Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan practically since their independence from British rule in 1947. The two countries each claim Kashmir in its entirety and have fought two of the three wars between them over it.
The rivals struck a cease-fire deal in 2003 but regularly trade cross-border fire.
On Sunday, British Prime Minister Theresa May spoke by phone with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan, welcoming the return of the captured Indian pilot and reduction in tensions.
But she also urged Khan to crack down on terrorist groups operating in Pakistan, according to a Downing Street statement.
“The Prime Minister emphasized the importance of Pakistan taking action against all terrorist groups, in support of global efforts to combat terrorism,” the statement said.
First lull in Kashmir since latest India-Pakistan escalation
First lull in Kashmir since latest India-Pakistan escalation
- Some 200 families have been displaced from villages near the Line of Control
- Tensions escalated at the de-facto border between India and Pakistan after February 14 attack in Pulwama district
At least 42 civilians killed in Afghanistan in conflict with Pakistan, UN agency says
- Civilian casualties include those caused by indirect fire, airstrikes, says UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan
- Conflict was sparked last Thursday after Afghan forces said were retaliation for Pakistani airstrikes earlier this month
KABUL/ISLAMABAD: At least 42 civilians have been killed and 104 wounded in Afghanistan in the fighting with Pakistan between February 26 and March 2, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said on Tuesday, as the military conflict between the neighbors entered its sixth day.
Military tensions between the South Asian nations remained high on Tuesday, with Afghanistan saying it had captured another Pakistani post in the Kandahar region and the fighting between the allies-turned-foes was “still ongoing.”
“The civilian casualties include those caused by indirect fire in cross-border clashes...as well as those caused by airstrikes,” the UN agency said, adding that the numbers were “preliminary.”
The conflict — the worst between the countries in years — was sparked last week by what Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers said were retaliatory strikes on Pakistani installations in response to Pakistan’s targeting of militants in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan says Pakistani forces targeted its civilians, a charge Islamabad denies.
Islamabad has launched air-to-ground missiles at Taliban military sites over the last week, and even directly targeted the Taliban government for the first time over allegations it harbors militants executing attacks on Pakistan from its soil.
Pakistani forces destroyed a military base in Nangarhar province of Afghanistan in a successful air operation, Pakistani security sources said on Tuesday.
UNAMA CALLS FOR HALT TO FIGHTING
Both sides have claimed to have killed scores of troops of the other and inflicted heavy damage on military facilities since the fighting began.
Reuters has not been able to verify the numbers.
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, while addressing a joint session of parliament on Monday, reiterated that Islamabad would not allow territory in its neighborhood to be used for attacks against it.
“The soil of Pakistan is sacred. We will not allow any entity — domestic or foreign — to use neighboring territory to destabilize our peace,” he said.
UNAMA called for a halt to the fighting and warned that the violence, which has displaced an estimated 16,400 households, has worsened the situation of Afghanistan’s people who were still recovering from successive earthquakes in August and September that killed more than 1,400 people.
“Restrictions on movements in the border area due to the active conflict have reduced the capacity of humanitarian agencies and partners to deliver life-saving and other assistance in the most-affected areas,” it said.
