Civilian authorities in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) on Saturday rubbished Indian claims that a 12-year-old boy had crossed over into the Nowshera sector of India-held Kashmir 'for the purpose of spying.'

“In a region where inadvertent crossings across the unmarked Line of Control (LoC) are a regular occurrence, the claim by Indian authorities is simply ludicrous,” said Chaudhry Tariq Farooq, a senior AJK minister.

“It’s ironic that Indian authorities are using inadvertent crossings for further vitiating the already tense atmosphere in the region,” he added.

“But what else can you expect from a country which even considers a bird fluttering over from across the border a spy,” jibed the minister, referring to claims by Indian authorities that they had caught a ‘spy pigeon’ in Pathankot in the northern state of Punjab last year.

India’s PTI news agency had quoted a defence spokesman as saying on Saturday that an Indian army patrol along the LoC had apprehended a 12-year-old “intruder” from AJK.

The boy, who they identified as Ashfaq Ali Chauhan, was identified by the PTI as the son of a retired soldier of Pakistan Army's Baluch Regiment, Hussain Malik, and had crossed over to the India-held side of the LoC late Friday evening in Rajouri district.

“Ashfaq was found moving suspiciously near the LoC and surrendered immediately on being challenged by the Indian Army patrol,” the PTI said.

The Nowshera sector of Rajouri district faces the Samahni sector in AJK’s southernmost Bhimber district.

Indian media claim Malik is a resident of the Dunger Pel village in Bhimber district.

According to a statement released by Indian officials, “the boy was sent by terrorists in connivance with the Pakistan army to probe a route for infiltration across the LoC.”

"In gross violation of human rights, the terrorists along with Pakistan Army have no compunction in using innocent children to probe through dangerous minefields in a heavily militarised zone on the LoC to ascertain safe passage for the terrorists attempting to infiltrate," the statement alleged.

The PTI said that the boy was handed over to police in India-held Kashmir for further investigation.

However, on being contacted by Dawn, police officials in Bhimber said so far they had not received any report or complaint from any family about the disappearance of a 12-year old.

Senior minister Farooq, who hails from Bhimber, said even if the child had crossed over, it was not something unusual because residents along the LoC, from young children to adults, often strayed across the divide while herding cattle, picking firewood or medicinal plants.

He said the fresh claim was reminiscent of a similar allegation by Indian authorities in the wake of an attack on an Indian army base in Uri in September last year.

India had alleged that the teenagers from Muzaffarabad had facilitated the Uri attackers.

However, ultimately, India’s own National Investigation Agency had conceded that two teenagers India had held on suspicion of involvement in the attack had crossed the LoC after an argument with their parents due to pressure over studies, and that the evidence collected did not reveal any linkage of the suspects with the Uri attackers. The two boys were eventually freed and sent back to Pakistan in March 2017.

Senior minister Farooq pointed out that inadvertent crossings were a chronic problem in Jammu and Kashmir, and authorities from both sides had, therefore, decided a while ago that such crossings would be repatriated to their respective sides at the earliest.

“We [Pakistan] have always upheld that commitment in letter and in spirit, but India has mostly ended up treating inadvertent crossers inhumanely,” he said, referring to the killing of a woman in February this year by India’s Border Security Force (BSF) near Sialkot.

The woman had inadvertently crossed the Working Boundary near Sialkot.

In sharp contrast to that attitude, Pakistan had handed over two Kashmiri youth to Indian authorities, who had separately strayed into AJK territory from the LoC, as a goodwill gesture.

Read more: Two Kashmiri youth handed over to Indian authorities near LoC

Prior to that, in January, Pakistan had also handed over to Indian officials one of their soldiers who had crossed the LoC on the same night India claimed they had carried out a 'surgical strike' in Pakistan.

Pakistani authorities had rubbished that claim, saying the soldier had crossed over because he was fed up with the way his commanders treated him.