India, Pakistan warn against escalation over border killings

NEW DELHI: India has delivered a dressing-down to Islamabad’s envoy to Delhi as it accused Pakistan’s army of beheading one of two soldiers killed in Kashmir, but both sides warned against inflaming tensions.
While Pakistan insisted no such incident had taken place and suggested a UN inquiry be held, India denounced the “inhuman” treatment of the pair who were killed two days after a Pakistani soldier was also slain in the Kashmir region.
Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid warned against exacerbating the situation.
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According to Reuters, Khurshid said Pakistan’s ambassador Salman Bashir had been “spoken to in very strong terms” after he was summoned for an angry rebuke over the killings.
But in a subsequent press conference, Khurshid said that “whatever has happened, should not be escalated.”
The two Indian soldiers died after a firefight erupted in disputed Kashmir. The Indian army said a patrol moving in fog discovered Pakistani troops about 500 meters inside Indian territory.
Amid the chorus of condemnation, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar appeared on Indian television to issue a firm denial and criticize the statements by authorities in Delhi.
“Let me just say that we are a bit appalled at some statements that are coming in from India because the government of Pakistan has absolutely rejected that any such incident took place,” she told India’s CNN-IBN network.