OFFICIALS in Islamabad say Pakistan and India are trying to de-escalate border tensions after their troops exchanged several rounds of gunfire over the last week in the disputed Kashmir region.
The officials said Tuesday that Pakistani adviser Nasser Khan Janjua spoke with India’s security adviser Ajit Doval by phone briefly on Monday, discussing ways to restore calm.
The three officials, including a close aide of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose the information to the media.
It’s the first such contact amid tensions that have been running high between the two nuclear arch-rivals since India claimed a militant attack in its part of Kashmir had killed 19 soldiers on Sept 18.
In the attack, unidentified gunmen infiltrated a key Indian army base in India-controlled Uri in Kashmir, triggering a standoff that killed the 19 soldiers. The rebels were also killed in the dawn skirmish.
India immediately blamed Pakistan for the Uri attack, claiming its neighbor has been arming and training insurgents fighting for Kashmir’s independence from India or its merger with Pakistan.
Pakistan, however, has denied this charge.
Last week, presumably in retaliation for the Uri attack, the Indian army claimed it carried out a ‘surgical strike’ in the region and destroyed “terrorist launching pads” used by the militants.
It claimed its elite troops crossed into Pakistan territory in Kashmir and killed suspected militants who were allegedly planning strikes in major cities in India. The attack allegedly incapacitated more than 30 terrorists and destroyed five terror launch pads in the region.
Pakistan, however, said no such strike occurred.
On Sunday, violence again broke out in the Kashmir valley after an unspecified number of combatants fired grenades and guns at an Indian army camp in the Indian portion of Kashmir, triggering an exchange of gunfire.
The skirmish ended with two militants killed, along with a member of the Indian BSF.
Monday’s five-hour gunfire exchange, however, caused no casualties.
The Kashmir territorial conflict between India and Pakistan has been raging on for decades but intensified recently after the July 8 killing of popular rebel commander Burhan Wani.
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