WEB
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s defence minister said on Thursday that the country is capable of responding “befittingly” to Indian actions on the border after several days of clashes in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.
“We do not want the situation on the borders of two nuclear neighbours to escalate into confrontation,” Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said in a statement. “India must demonstrate caution and behave with responsibility.”
Defence minister’s reaction comes against the backdrop of an earlier statement by his Indian counterpart Arun Jaitley where he ‘warned’ Pakistan to stop shelling in the disputed region.
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“If Pakistan persists with this adventurism, our forces will make cost of this adventurism unaffordable for it,” Arun Jaitley had told journalists in New Delhi. “Pakistan should stop this unprovoked firing and shelling if it wants peace on the border.”
At least two Pakistanis were killed in latest firing by Indian troops along the working boundary between India and Pakistan, raising the death toll to 12 and injured to 43.
The situation along the India-Pakistan working boundary is still volatile as a heavy exchange of fire continues.
Military sources say that Pakistani troops are responding to the unprovoked Indian firing and are only targeting military positions and not civilian areas as claimed by the Indian military.
