Pakistan lodges protest with India as 8 more killed in firing

Islamabad - 47 injured, houses damaged in cross-border shelling in Charwa sector

Indian High Commissioner in Islamabad T.C.A. Raghawan was on Friday summoned to Foreign Office and handed over a strong protest note on firing by Indian forces at the working boundary near Sialkot.
"Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry received the Indian envoy. He was conveyed Pakistan's protest and concern over continued LoC/Working Boundary violations," the Foreign Office said.
According to the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), at least eight civilians including a woman and child were killed and 47 others injured in the unprovoked firing and shelling by Indian forces across the Working Boundary in Charwah sector early on Friday morning.
The Indian forces resorted to unprovoked firing and shelling at Sujeet Garh, Kundanpur and Dhamala of Charwa Sector.
The injured have been shifted to Combined Military Hospital (CMH) Sialkot. The deceased were identified as Zulfiqar, Imran, Maqsood, Shahzad, Waqas, Aslam, Irshad Bibi, Jalal, Abid, Barkat and Anwar.
The Chenab Rangers responded befittingly and silenced the Indian guns, the ISPR added.
Rangers sources said the attacks along the Sialkot Working Boundary have mostly harmed civilians, adding that livestock belonging to residents of the area has been killed, while houses have been partially damaged.
India has violated ceasefire 70 times during the last two months and Pakistan has lodged protest against Indian aggression on LoC and Working Boundary.
The exchange of fire with casualties on both sides is believed to be fiercest in recent weeks.
The latest incident of firing comes days before Pakistan and India's border security force chiefs are likely to meet in New Delhi.
The chiefs of the Pakistan Rangers and the Indian Border Security Force will meet in New Delhi from September 9 to 13, a statement issued by the Pakistan Rangers had said.
The agenda for the meeting includes recent firing over the Line of Control, the de facto frontier in the divided Kashmir region, as well as cross-border smuggling, Pakistan Rangers spokesman Waheed Bukhari had said.
A Foreign Office spokesman here on Thursday described these talks as "routine".
The developments come days after the first high-level peace talks in years between the two countries collapsed.
Meanwhile, Indian officials claimed firing by Pakistani border guards along the boundary in Kashmir left three Indian civilians dead and at least 16 wounded.
news@khaleejtimes.com
With inputs from agencies)