Pakistani soldier killed in border clashes with Indian troops

An Indian Border Security Force soldier at the Kangarh border check post Photo: AP Photo/Aman Sharma

You know, about the LAST thing that the world needs about now is a Pakistani troop being killed by Indian troops but that's exactly what happened along the Kashmir border.  Now, as usually is the case, both sides have totally opposite views of what prompted the fighting between the two sides but it's my usual contention that the truth will land much more on India's side of the story.  Either way, it's going to be tense for a couple of days to be sure this doesn't escalate.


Of course, the Pakistani government will go apeshit over this while they have kept their mouths completely shut over the massacre of their troops by the Pakistan over the past couple of months.

The story comes from The Telegraph.

Pakistani soldier killed in border clashes with Indian troops


Islamabad accused Indian soldiers of crossing the Line of Control and attacking a military post, an accusation denied by New Delhi.

The exchanges mark the latest flare-up in a dispute that extends back to independence and is responsible for two wars between the two neighbours.

It marks a serious test for relations that have improved during the past year, with a new relaxed visa regime and the first cricket series between the two countries since the 2008 Mumbai attacks, which finished on Sunday.

The Pakistani military said Indian troops came across the frontier in the Haji Pir sector, about 50 miles north of Islamabad, and "physically raided" a check post named Sawan Patra.

"Pakistan Army troops effectively responded to the attack successfully. One Pakistani soldier embraced martyrdom while another was critically injured," it said in a statement, adding that the Indian troops left behind a gun and a dagger after retreating.



However, Indian officers disputed that account, accusing Pakistani forces of firing mortars and automatic weapons at an Indian border post and a civilian village in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Col Brijesh Pandey, the Indian army spokesman in Sriningar, the summer capital of the Indian-administered part of Kashmir, said: "We retaliated only using small arms.

"We believe it was clearly an attempt on their part to facilitate infiltration of militants."

At independence Pakistan expected Kashmir's maharaja to take note of his mainly Muslim population and side with his western neighbour. When he hesitated, Pakistan launched a guerrilla uprising and the region was divided.

The nuclear-armed neighbours have observed a ceasefire in Kashmir since November 2003, although there are dozens of skirmishes along the frontier each year and India frequently accuses Pakistan of using clashes to send insurgents into its territory.

The issue continues to dominate India-Pakistan relations.

Peace talks were halted in 2008 when gunmen killed 166 people in a series of coordinated assaults on Mumbai.

The commandos had trained in Pakistan and are believed to have been sent by Lashkar-e-Taiba, a terrorist group that lists driving India from Kashmir as one of its objectives.

However, frosty relations have thawed in the past year with senior ministers visiting each other's capitals. On Sunday, the two countries completed their first one-day international cricket series since 2003.

Analysts said it was possible that Indian forces strayed across the border chasing militants fleeing Indian territory.

Imtiaz Gul, of the Centre for Research and Security Studies, said: "This kind of thing happens from time to time and probably won't have a lasting impact on relations."