India blames Pakistani army for violating ceasefire

The Indian army on Tuesday accused Pakistani troops of violating the ceasefire along the de-facto border, Line of Control (LoC), in the disputed Kashmir region. The defence spokesman, Col RK Palta said that the Pakistani army opened unprovoked fire Tuesday morning on Indian positions in Hamirpur area of the Line of Control (LoC) in Mendhar sector of Poonch district, located some 180km south of Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian-administered Kashmir. "Pakistan troops started unprovoked firing at our positions in Hamirpur area of Mendhar sector today (Tuesday) morning," Col Palta said. "The firing started at 6.30 am on Tuesday. Our troops retaliated Pakistan firing with same caliber weapons. Pakistan troops used small arms, automatics and mortars to target our positions. "Intermittent firing exchanges were going on," he said. The defence spokesman said the exchange of fire continued for some period and no causality was reported. "Pakistani troops also fired at Indian positions without any provocation in the same sector of the LoC on Monday evening, Col Palta said. The Indian army claims that Pakistan has violated the ceasefire along the LOC some 100 times this year. Violations of the ceasefire, agreed in 2003, have come in the backdrop of the meeting between the Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan in New York, where both sides agreed it would be maintained. The leaders of both sides have tasked their respective armies to work out an effective mechanism to prevent ceasfire violations. The clashes this year between the armies of the two nuclear armed neighbors have been almost regularly reported since August 6 along the 720-Km long LoC dividing Kashmir into Pakistan and India. India had stated that 10 of its soldiers were killed during ceasefire violations by Pakistani troops so far this year along the disputed border