Pakistan captures Indian soldier along disputed Kashmir border
Pakistan captured an Indian soldier on its side of the disputed Kashmir border, Indian officials told CNN, as tensions continue to rise between the two nuclear neighbors.
The soldier inadvertently crossed the border to the Pakistani side of the Line of Control, which divides the Indian and Pakistani-administered portion of Kashmir, said Colonel Rohan Anand, press officer for the Indian Army. He added that the Indian and Pakistani militaries were in talks for the soldier’s release. The arrest comes at a rocky time for India-Pakistan relations, in the wake of cross-border clashes that left two Pakistani soldiers dead.
India conducts ‘surgical attacks’
The two soldiers were killed along the de-facto border Thursday in what India called “surgical attacks” to foil a “terrorist attack.”
Pakistan has insisted that no incursion took place into the territory it controls, saying there had only been an exchange of fire. After an emergency cabinet meeting on Friday, the Prime Minister’s office said in a statement that the cabinet “joined the Prime Minister in completely rejecting the Indian claims of carrying out “surgical strikes.” On Friday evening, the Pakistani leader’s office confirmed it would convene a meeting of Heads of Parliamentary Parties on Monday to discuss the crisis. The United Nations said it was “following this situation with great concern” and urged both sides to exercise restraint.