By: MWC News and Nasir Khan
Source: MWC News
About 6,000 civilians in Indian-administered Kashmir flee from homes as India and Pakistan engage in border firing. Thousands of people have fled from their homes as fighting between India and Pakistan spread along a 200km stretch of the border in the disputed region of Kashmir.
Tension between the nuclear-armed rivals has risen since Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called off peace talks in August and clashes along stretches of their border have been erupting intermittently since October.
At least 10 Indian and Pakistani soldiers and civilians have been killed in fighting over the past week. About 6,000 civilians in Indian-administered Kashmir fled from their homes late on Monday as fighting moved to civilian areas, said Shantmanu, the divisional commissioner of Jammu region. About 4,000 left after fighting began last week.
“We had a narrow escape and there is a war-like situation,” Sham Kumar, 54, from Sherpur village told Reuters news agency. “Pakistani troops are using long-range weapons. It is the first time we have seen such intense shelling.” Kumar added.
Indian and Pakistani forces again exchanged gunfire and mortar bombs across parts of their border on Tuesday, an Indian Border Security Force official, who didn’t want to be named, said. “The firing is going on and we are giving befitting reply to Pakistani shelling,” the official said. Pakistani officials were not immediately available for comment. The violence comes days before US Secretary of State John Kerry is due to visit India.
President Barack Obama is also due to visit India later this month. The US has for years been trying to push the South Asian rivals to build better relations. Mistrust between India and Pakistan is a factor behind conflict in various parts of the region including Afghanistan. The rivals, who have fought two wars over Muslim-majority Kashmir, blame each other for the upsurge in clashes since October.
The Kashmir Conflict and India-Pakistan military confrontations (By Nasir Khan)
There has been no tangible move to resolve the Kashmir issue that had started at the partitioning of India in 1947 when the British raj came to an end there.
Soon military hostilities started between the two new neighbours, India and Pakistan, over the princely State of Jammu and Kashmir. It was only through the UN mediation that the hostilities between the two countries were brought to an end and the parties occupying the areas were accepted as de facto powers.
The temporary border-line between these powers was demarcated as the Line of Control. However, the parties agreed to hold plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir to ascertain the will of the people, whether they would join India, Pakistan or become independent.
That promise has remained unfilled. Despite resorting to military confrontations that led to much bloodshed and misery, the people of Jammu and Kashmir have been the main victims.
During the period of insurgency against the Indian rule in Kashmir some 100,000 (India say around 70,000) people were killed.
At his time there are some 700,000 Indian soldiers in Kashmir to suppress the people who are asking for the end of the Indian rule and demanding their freedom (Azaadi).
But India has a different view of the conflict. According to this view Jammu and Kashmir are an ‘integral part of India’ and there is no problem in Jammu and Kashmir except for the terrorists operating there with the help of Pakistani authorities and militant groups.