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India, Pakistan exchange fire in Kashmir, 4 killed

03 January 2015 19:06 (UTC +04:00)

According to reports on Saturday, the deadly clashes between Indian and Pakistani military forces claimed the lives of four people, including a 13-year-old Pakistani girl.

Earlier on Wednesday, cross-border firing between the two countries had left another three people dead.

Islamabad blamed the escalation of violence on Saturday on New Delhi, saying it just retaliated “befittingly” against “unprovoked firing” from the Indian side.

“Indian BSF (Border Security Force) yet again resorted to unprovoked firing on working boundary near Sialkot today,” said Pakistan’s military in a statement on Saturday.

India, for its part, slammed Pakistan over the flare-up of violence, claiming that Islamabad violated a ceasefire deal in place between the two countries.

“We are stretching our hands for friendship with Pakistan but, despite this, we don’t understand why the ceasefire is violated by Pakistan,” said India’s Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

India and Pakistan agreed to a ceasefire along the so-called Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir in 2003, and launched peace talks a year later. The process was, however, suspended after over 160 people lost their lives in the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks, which New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-based militants.

Kashmir lies at the heart of almost 67 years of hostility between India and Pakistan. Both neighbors claim the region in full but have partial control over it. Thousands of people have been killed in Kashmir over the past 25 years.

Islamabad and New Delhi have fought three wars, two of which over Kashmir, since their independence from the British colonial rule in 1947.