6 Dead in Cross Border Shooting in Kashmir
Pakistan’s army blamed India for initiating the gun battle
ISLAMABAD — Pakistan's military says the death toll from the overnight cross-border shooting by India in the disputed Kashmir region has risen to six. In a statement Friday army spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor said 26 people, including women and children, were also wounded in what he called “unprovoked'' Indian shelling across the boundary in the Charwa and Harpal villages, on the Pakistani side. The latest incident in the disputed Himalayan region comes as Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said in his speech at the U.N. General Assembly that India has committed a number of human rights violations in India's part of Kashmir. "Pakistan demands an international investigation into India's crimes in occupied Kashmir. We ask that the United Nations Secretary-General and the High Commissioner for Human Rights send an inquiry Commission to occupied Kashmir to verify the nature and extent of India's human rights violations, secure the punishment of those responsible and provide justice and relief to the victims." Initially, the Pakistan army said Thursday that Indian troops opened fire from across the border, killing at least four civilians. Pakistani troops returned fire, according to an army statement, but blamed India for initiating the gun battle that took place in the village of Charwa. Such exchanges of gunfire are common in Kashmir, which has been the cause of two of three wars between the two nuclear powers since 1947, the year they gained independence from Britain. Kashmir is divided between Pakistan and India but it is claimed by both in its entirety.