RAWALPINDI: The leader of Pakistan controlled Kashmir said Feb 11 that Indian soldiers killed at least three protesters as they tried to cross a military control line, setting off an exchange of fire with Pakistani troops.
Meanwhile, in continuing militant related violence 7 persons were killed in the state including a IB official. This is the third 1B official killed in J-K this year.
Sardar Abdul Qayyum, said six people were wounded after troops opened fire on a rally of several thousand people at Chakothi, on the Pakistani side of the line.
Earlier state Prime Minister, Sikandar Hayat, interrupted a conference on Kashmir to tell the delegates that six protesters died, but Mr. Qayyun said only three were confirmed dead.
Pakistan expressed shock over the shootings and asked India to exercise restraint in dealing with unarmed civilians, a Foreign Ministry statement said.
India has cracked down in the last month on a Muslim separatist campaign in its part of the divided territory of Kashmir, part of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. The two countries have fought two of their three wars since Indian independence in 1947 over Kashmir, two thirds of which is controlled by India and the rest by Pakistan,
India regards the whole state as an integral part of the country. But Islamabad says Kashmiris, most of whom are Muslim, must decide in a United Nations, mandated election whether to join Islamic Pakistan or India, which has a Hindu majority.
Pakistan said the Foreign Ministry conveyed this view to the Indian High Commissioner J.N. Dixit.
“The government of Pakistan sincerely hopes that the Indian security forces would desist from such violent actions, which can only vitiate the atmosphere further,” the statement said.
The Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Aftab Seth, said in New Delhi that troops had fired on demonstrators trying to cross the line.
Mr. Seth blamed Islamabad’s support for a Muslim revolt in Indian ruled Kashmir for the border clashes.
“This is exactly what we have been fearing would happen when they keep up such a pitch of rhetoric,” he said, “If they are going to keep pushing people across, it could happen again.”
Three people were killed and 17 ‘were wounded last Monday when Indian border guards fired on a crowd that crossed the line in the Sochaitagarh area near the Pakistani officials said.
Mr. Qayyum said 6,000 to 7,000 people went to Chakothi from the state capital, Muzaffarabad, for a rally organized by a student group and the army put up barbed wire to prevent them from moving farther. But about 50 jumped across and went into the Indian side.
The Indians opened fire and after that the Pakistani and Indian troops fired at each other for two hours, he said. “This can spark off anything because it is a great shock for the soldiers to see unarmed boys being shot,” Mr. Qayyum said.
Earlier Sunday, the leader of a Kashmiri independence group said that four of its members crossed the cease fire line near Chakothi on Saturday night, planted the group flag on the Indian side and returned to the Pakistani side.
Two of the four men were arrested by Pakistani authorities, the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front leader, Amanullah Khan said.
The front is the main group in the campaign in Indian Kashmir, where more than 80 people have died in clashes with security forces since last month.
Article extracted from this publication >> February 16, 1990
