India, Pakistan border firing enters seventh
day
03:05 a.m. Aug 05, 1998 Eastern
By Sheikh Mushtaq
SRINAGAR, India, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Indian and Pakistani troops
exchanged fire
for the seventh day along the disputed Kashmir border on
Wednesday, but there
were no fresh reports of casualties, an Indian defence spokesman
said.
``Firing continues in the Kachhal and Machil sectors of Kupwara
area. We have
also retaliated. So far there are no reports of any casualties
today,'' the spokesman
said.
Kupwara district is 87 km (54 miles) northwest of Srinagar, the
summer capital of
Jammu and Kashmir.
The spokesman said Pakistan also fired heavy artillery in the
Rustam and Sultan
Daki areas of the Uri sector, about 100 km (62 miles) west of the
summer capital
Srinagar.
``There are also reports of intermittent firing from Siachen
Glacier,'' the Indian
spokesman said, referring to a high-altitude no mans land where
armies of the two
neighbours are wrestling for strategic control.
Intermittent exchanges of fire between Indian and Pakistani
troops is common, but
the clashes have escalated along the 720-km (450-mile) ceasefire
line -- called the
Line of Control -- since the two neighbours conducted nuclear
tests in May.
More than 95 people have been killed on both sides of the border
in the past
week.
Indian Defence Minister George Fernandes was scheduled to make a
statement in
parliament later on Wednesday on the border firing, which has
worsened
prospects of the two South Asian countries resuming stalled peace
talks.
In three major incidents of guerrilla attacks linked to a
separatist Kashmir
rebellion, 57 people died in Jammu and Kashmir and the
neighbouring Himachal
Pradesh state this week.
Thirty-eight people were killed early on Monday in an attack in
the Chamba
district of Himachal Pradesh province, across the border from
Kashmir. India
blamed Pakistan-backed guerrillas for the killings.
Nineteen died in a similar attack on Tuesday in the Poonch border
area of Jammu
and Kashmir.
Pakistan denies Indian charges that it arms Kashmiri rebels and
says it only
provides them moral and diplomatic support.
Three civilians and two soldiers were killed on the Indian side
on Tuesday
following Pakistani artillery shelling in the Uri sector, the
Indian spokesman said.
Six soldiers and 18 civilians were also wounded, he added.
At least 15 civilians were wounded on Tuesday evening in the
Kupwara sector
and civilian property was damaged, he said without elaborating.
Pakistani officials said on Tuesday that India had increased
shelling, killing at least
three civilians and raising the death toll on their side to 65
since last Thursday.
India has put the number of deaths at more than 30 on its side of
Kashmir since
the firing started.
The two countries have fought two wars since independence from
Britain in 1947
over Kashmir. India rules two-thirds of the Kashmir valley and
Pakistan the rest.
Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee said this week India was keen
to resume
bilateral peace talks with Pakistan. Pakistani Foreign Minister
Gohar Ayub Khan
repeated Islamabads demand for mediation, which India rejects.
New Delhi says Kashmir is one of the several issues the two
nations must discuss.
Islamabad calls Kashmir the ``core'' issue that must be resolved
first.