Border Clashes Between India and Pakistan Continue

Indian and Pakistani troops continued firing at each other’s positions Wednesday afternoon along the Line of Control, the disputed border dividing the Kashmir region between the two nuclear-armed neighbors, according to Indian and Pakistani military officials.

Two Pakistani soldiers were injured Wednesday morning near the Uri sector in northern Kashmir, a day after Indian officials said that five Indian soldiers had been killed in an attack by terrorists dressed in Pakistan army uniforms in the southern Poonch area of the troubled region.

The Pakistani army “lodged a strong protest for LoC violations by Indian troops in Pandu sector on Wednesday in which two Pakistani soldiers were seriously wounded,” said a Pakistani military official.

Moving to tamp down tensions, the director general of military operations of the Pakistani army spoke to his Indian counterpart Wednesday morning about the latest flareup, following the established method of communication between the rival armies.

Indian officials rejected the Pakistani denials that they had any role in the deaths of the five Indian soldiers. Indian television networks have been broadcasting images of grieving relatives of the slain soldiers.

“Our soldiers were killed well inside our territory.” said S.N. Acharya, a spokesman for the Indian Army in Jammu region of Indian-administered-Kashmir. “I cannot tell you the precise distance but it was well within our territory. These areas are very difficult terrain and there are ways and means to cross over the line of control.”

The Indian parliament saw angry exchanges Wednesday between ruling the Congress party and the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP, on over the wording used to describe the deaths of Indian soldiers.

The initial statements by Indian military officials had accused the Pakistani military of killing the Indian soldiers, but later Tuesday India’s Defense Minister, A.K. Antony, said in the Indian parliament on Tuesday that “the ambush was carried out by approximately 20 heavily armed terrorists along with persons dressed in Pakistan Army uniforms.”

The leaders of India’s leading opposition party, the Hindu nationalist BJP, accused Mr. Antony of deliberating choosing not to blame the Pakistani army. Sushma Swaraj, the leader of the BJP in the Indian parliament, urged Mr. Antony to clarify his remark.

Indian military officials in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian-administered-Kashmir, confirmed that machine guns were used in the exchange of fire between the two sides.

“Yesterday unprovoked firing took place in north of Uri sector from Pakistan side,” said Naresh Wig, a public relations officer of the Indian Army in Srinagar. He said the Indian side “did a controlled retaliation.”

The last skirmish between India and Pakistan on the Line of Control occurred in January, when Pakistani troops killed two Indian soldiers. One of the two soldiers was beheaded. Local officials said the recent developments reflected a worrying pattern.

“Indian and Pakistani troops have been firing at each other almost every day for the two months in Poonch area,” said Aijaz Ahmad Jan, a lawmaker from Poonch area of Indian-administered-Kashmir, who lives in a village close to the disputed border. “The gun battles have made life difficult for thousands of villagers living along the border here.”

Yet there are signs that the Indian and Pakistani leaders are inclined toward restraint and intend to not let the violence on the disputed border affect the plans to revive the dormant peace process between the two countries.

The Indian prime minister, Manmohan Singh, and the Pakistani prime minister, Nawaz Sharif are expected to meet in September at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

“It is not through war that we are going to solve the problems, but through discussion and dialogue. So, the Indian PM and Pakistan PM will be meeting in New York,” P.C. Chacko, a spokesperson for India’s ruling Congress Party, told the Indian press.