Pakistan summons Indian diplomat over cease-fire violations

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Tuesday summoned a senior Indian diplomat and lodged protest over the death of a woman from Kashmir, after she was injured in cross-border shelling in the disputed Himalayan region.
Indian troops opened fire in the Jandrot sector of the Line of Control (LoC) — the region’s de facto border — on August 8, seriously injuring a 28-year-old woman with a bullet wound to her stomach, a statement from Islamabad’s foreign ministry said.
The Indian deputy high commissioner was summoned to the foreign office to lodge the protest after the woman, named only as Fareeda, died from her injuries on Tuesday.
“Pakistan also condemned the latest unprovoked cease-fire violations by the Indian security forces at the LoC in Nakial sector near Kotli and Bhimber Gali sector on August 9, in which Pakistani posts were targeted,” said the statement.
“Indian security forces have committed 37 and 24 unprovoked cease-fire violations on the LoC and the Working Boundary in July and August respectively.”
The statement continued: “The government of Pakistan expressed its deep concern at the continuous and unprovoked cease-fire violations and urged India to stop them forthwith.”
Muslim-majority Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan, but claimed in full by both, since the two countries gained independence from Britain in 1947.
A border cease-fire agreed in 2003 has largely held, with occasional violations reported from both sides.
The two countries have fought two wars over the Himalayan region.
Since 1989 several rebel groups have been fighting hundreds of thousands of Indian forces deployed in the region, seeking independence or a merger of the territory with Pakistan.
The fighting has left tens of thousands, mostly civilians, dead.