Pakistan furious as India launches Kashmir attack

Indian commandos carried out a series of lightning strikes Thursday along the de facto border with Pakistan in Kashmir, provoking furious charges of “naked aggression” from its nuclear-armed neighbor.
Amid anger in India over a recent deadly assault on one of its army bases in Kashmir, officials said troops had conducted “surgical strikes” several kilometers inside the Pakistan-controlled side of the disputed territory to prevent attacks being planned on major Indian cities.
Pakistan captured an Indian soldier on its side of the disputed Kashmir border, military officials in the two countries said. 
“It is confirmed one soldier from 37 Rashtriya Rifles with weapons has inadvertently crossed over to the Pakistan side of the Line of Control,” an Indian Army official said in New Delhi.
He said such incidents of people including civilians crossing the frontier by mistake have happened in the past from both sides and those who strayed are returned.
Two officials based in Pakistan’s Chhamb’s sector said the Indian soldier with weapons was captured at 1330 local time on Thursday.
The Indian strikes aimed at “neutralizing the terrorists” had caused “multiple casualties,” according to Indian officials.
Pakistan said two of its soldiers had been killed and nine more wounded in what it described as small arms fire and dismissed the talk of surgical strikes as an “illusion” designed to whip up “media hype.” 
Lt. Gen. Ranbir Singh, director-general of military operations, announced news of the strikes in New Delhi, sending shares on the Indian stock market sliding nearly two percent.
“Some terrorist teams had positioned themselves at launchpads along the Line of Control,” Singh told reporters.
“The Indian army conducted surgical strikes last night at these launchpads. Significant casualties have been caused to these terrorists and those who are trying to support them.”
Singh said the decision to launch the strikes was taken following intelligence that militants were planning “to carry out infiltration and terrorist strikes in Jammu and Kashmir and various other metros” in India.
A senior government source said commandos carried out the strikes some way across the unofficial border known as the Line of Control (LoC), beginning after midnight and finishing before dawn.
“They were conducted two-three kilometers across the LoC,” the source told AFP.
“Seven launchpads were targeted. The defense minister himself monitored the ops and the Indian side did not suffer any casualties.”
Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif said two Pakistani soldiers killed and nine wounded as authorities in Islamabad played down the scale of the strikes.
“There has been no surgical strike by India, instead there had been cross border fire initiated and conducted by India,” said a military statement. 
“As per rules of engagement same was strongly and befittingly responded by Pakistani troops.”
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif “strongly condemned the unprovoked and naked aggression of Indian forces.”
White House said US encourages continued discussions between India and Pakistan militaries to escalation over Kashmir. 
The United Nations both countries to exercise restraint.
“The United Nations calls on the government of India and Pakistan to exercise restraint and encourage them to continue their efforts to resolve their differences peacefully and through dialogue,” said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric.
UN officials are following the increase in tensions in Kashmir “with great concern”, said Dujarric, adding that UN military observers were in contact with both sides to try to obtain further information.
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Timeline of divisions and disputes in region since 1947
• The partition of the South Asian subcontinent in August 1947 upon independence from British colonial rule leads to the foundation of the two nations of India, which has a Hindu majority, and Muslim-majority Pakistan.
• In December India and Pakistan go to war over the Muslim-majority state of Kashmir, whose Hindu ruler decides to join secular India rather than Muslim Pakistan. 
• The war ends with the region divided between India and Pakistan along the Line of Control (LoC), which neither side agrees is the official border.
• In September 1965 a full-scale India-Pakistan war over Kashmir ends inconclusively after a cease-fire brokered by the Soviet Union.
• Tensions rise again in December 1989 when a Muslim uprising breaks out against Indian rule in Indian Kashmir, inflaming tensions with Pakistan. New Delhi imposes direct rule.
• From the mid-1990s the rebels are joined by foreign radicals, mainly Arabs, Afghans and Pakistanis.
• In a sign of the high stakes, in 1998 both India and Pakistan carry out tests of nuclear weapons, which both states now possess.
• Then in April 1999 infiltrators from Pakistan raid Indian Kashmir’s Kargil sector, sparking a six-week conflict, leading to the deaths of 1,000 combatants on both sides. The battle ends under US pressure.
• A new series of attacks in 2001 and 2002 lead to a new mobilization of Indian and Pakistani troops at the de-facto border.
• In November 2003 Pakistan declares a unilateral cease-fire along the Line of Control, leading to an inconclusive peace process the following year.
• In July 2006 bomb blasts on commuter trains kill 174 people in Mumbai. Police blame pro-Pakistan militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba.
• Then, in November 2008 a devastating attack by Islamic militants on Mumbai that leaves 166 people dead causes a new crisis in India-Pakistan relations.
• New outbursts of violence in Indian Kashmir have on several occasions hindered the fragile peace process. 
• On Sept. 18, 2016, the deadly assault on an army base in Kashmir near to the border kills 18 soldiers, in what is the worst rebel attack in the region for 15 years.
n On Sept. 27, India pulls out of a key regional summit planned for Pakistan in November, after accusing Pakistan-based militants of the Jaish-e-Mohammad group of launching the attack.
• On Thursday Indian commandos carry out lightning strikes along the border with Pakistan in Kashmir, provoking furious charges of “naked aggression” from Pakistan. One Indian soldier captured inside Pakistani territory.

Source: Arab News