Britain urges Pakistan, India to resolve Kashmir crisis

Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sohail Aman, said on Thursday that the armed forces of Pakistan remain vigilant at all times, ready to thwart any aggression and ‘not anxious about Indian threats at all’.

“We call for an end to the violence and for both sides to exercise restraint”, he said, framing the issue as a matter of economy as well as security.

Aman said that if Indian forces escalate the crisis, Pakistani troops ‘know full well how to deal with them’.

India Army’s shelling killed three Pakistan Army personnel and nine civilians on Wednesday, a day after India promised “heavy retribution” for the death of three soldiers, one of whose body was mutilated.

Pakistan is forcefully raising Indian belligerence on the Line of Control (LoC) and gross human rights violations in occupied Kashmir on an global level, the Foreign Office said on Thursday.

India alleges the militants were supported by Pakistan, which Islamabad denies.

He said that a protest note was handed to the Indian envoy which said that India must refrain from targeting unarmed citizens.

The meeting urged other countries to notice what Pakistan regards as a tense situation deliberately escalated by India. He said there was a “vast potential” to increase the bilateral trade to the mutual benefit of the two countries. He also expressed concern on casualties caused to Indian civilians and soldiers due to unprovoked Pak firing.

The Army on Tuesday had vowed to avenge the killing of the three soldiers in Machil sector who were ambushed apparently by “Pakistan regulars and irregulars” close to the LoC, when they were patrolling the area.

“Indian troops targeted a civil Bus near LoC [the Line of Control] in Neelam (sic) valley”, the military said in an emailed statement.

In the aftermath of Indian army’s “punitive fire assaults”, DGMOs of India and Pakistan spoke yesterday at the latter’s request for an “unscheduled hotline interaction” during which the “unethical” act of mutilation of bodies of Indian soldiers by “terrorists” was raised.

Aziz said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has extended an invitation to his British counterpart to visit Pakistan next year. The report added that New Delhi wants a smooth transition and wants to avoid extension of Raheel’s term, which the Indian response at border was “befitting but “below the radar”.