SRINAGAR (Reuters) - The Indian army said on Saturday it had stepped up its vigil along a military control line in Kashmir as Pakistan-based militant groups increase efforts to push into the region before snow blocks the mountain passes.
"The army has stepped up its vigil all along the Line of Control (LoC) in anticipation of renewed attempts at infiltration before snowfall expected in the next fortnight," a Defence Ministry statement said.
The infiltration comes despite a ceasefire between the two armies and a three-metre-high barbed wire fence along much of the 742-km (460-mile) LoC.
On Saturday, Indian troops shot dead three militants when they tried to cross into Indian Kashmir, the statement added, the fourth such incursion attempt in the past week.
Kashmir, which India and Pakistan claim in full but rule in part, remains at the core of a six-decade-long conflict between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.
After months of relative calm, there has been a rise in separatist violence across Kashmir, where officials say tens of thousands have been killed since a revolt against Indian rule broke out in 1989.
Pakistan has consistently denied its involvement in abetting the anti-Indian insurgency in Kashmir.
(Reporting by Sheikh Mushtaq; Editing by Rina Chandran
No comments:
Post a Comment