India seeks to reduce tensions despite firefight
04:45 AM Jan 10, 2013
JAMMU (India) - India yesterday denounced Pakistan over a firefight in the disputed territory of Kashmir in which two Indian soldiers were killed, but the nuclear-armed rivals appeared determined to prevent the clash from escalating into a full diplomatic crisis.
India summoned Pakistan's envoy in New Delhi, Mr Salman Bashir, to lodge a "strong protest", accusing a group of Pakistani soldiers it said had crossed the heavily militarised Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir of "barbaric and inhuman" behaviour.
The body of one of the soldiers was found mutilated in a forested area on the side controlled by India, said Mr Rajesh K Kalia, spokesman for the Indian Army's Northern Command. However, he denied reports that one body had been decapitated and another had its throat slit.
India's External Affairs Minister sought to cool tensions, saying that exhaustive efforts to improve relations could be squandered if the situation was not contained.
"I think it is important in the long-term that what has happened should not be escalated," Mr Salman Khurshid told a news conference. "We cannot and must not allow the escalation of any unwholesome event like this."
Firing and small skirmishes are common along the 740km LoC despite a ceasefire that was agreed in 2003. But incursions by troops from either side are rare.
Retired Indian Army Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal, who previously commanded a brigade on the LoC, said Tuesday's incident - about 600m from the de facto border - marked the most serious infiltration since the ceasefire was put in place.
Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied India's allegations of an incursion as "baseless and unfounded" and said in a statement that it was prepared for an investigation by a United Nations military observer group into recent ceasefire violations.
Like New Delhi, it stressed the need to pursue better relations, adding: "Pakistan is committed to a constructive, sustained and result-oriented process of engagement with India."
Nevertheless, a Pakistani army spokesman described India's charges as "propaganda" aimed at diverting attention away from an Indian incursion two days earlier in which one Pakistani soldier was killed.
India denies that its troops crossed over the line during last weekend's incident.
Mr Mushahid Hussain, a Pakistani senator and member of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security, said the Indian government - dogged by corruption scandals and facing a tough election as early as this year - was returning to "the war-like language of the past" for domestic political reasons.
"Pakistan has its hands full with a full-blown insurgency inside its borders. It doesn't suit Pakistani interests at all to raise the temperature along the LoC," he said.
It is unclear whether this latest clash between India and Pakistan will derail the steps the neighbours have taken to warm their relationship since the 2008 terror attacks on Mumbai by militants based in Pakistan.
Recent high-level negotiations have included a new visa agreement that eased restrictions for travellers and plans to bolster trade ties. Agencies
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