July 11, 2008	Friday	Rajab 7, 1429

ISLAMABAD, July 10: An army spokesman on Thursday accused India of violating a 2003 ceasefire along the Line of Control.

ISPR Director-General Maj-Gen Athar Abbas said the Indian army fired mortars and small arms in the Battal sector of Kashmir without any provocation. He said Pakistan’s forces returned fire.

Gen Abbas said the local Pakistani commander lodged a protest with his Indian counterpart following what he called the “breach of ceasefire,” while the army’s director-general of military operations requested a flag meeting with his Indian counterpart.

The spokesman said there were no casualties on the Pakistani side.

The Indian army confirmed the incident but said its troops had fired at suspected militants and not Pakistani troops.

The incident was a rare violation of a ceasefire which Pakistan and India agreed to hold in November 2003 along the Line of Control before they launched peace talks in January 2004.

Speaking in occupied Jammu, Indian army spokesman S.D. Goswami claimed that the shooting was to “prevent infiltration by a group of militants” into India. “Soldiers were successful in their effort.

“They never fired at Pakistani troops,” he said.

He in turn accused Pakistani soldiers of simultaneously firing at Indian positions with small and medium arms close to the place where the militants were trying to infiltrate.

“We did not retaliate at all,” the spokesman said,

There were no causalities on the either side, Indian officials added.—Agencies