ISLAMABAD — Pakistan and India traded fresh accusations of cross-border fire in Kashmir on Tuesday, a day after top officials discussed ways of de-escalating tensions over the disputed Himalayan region.
Lt. Col. Manish Mehta, an Indian army spokesman, said Pakistani soldiers fired mortars at Indian army positions on Tuesday. Indian soldiers “appropriately responded to the unprovoked cease-fire violations,” he said.
The Pakistani military said its troops responded to “unprovoked” Indian fire, which continued for two hours.
Pakistani National Security Adviser Nasser Khan Janjua briefly spoke with his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval on Monday, three officials in Islamabad said, the first such high-level contact in weeks. The three officials,
including a close aide to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media.
Tensions have soared between the two nuclear-armed rivals since a Sept. 18 militant attack in Kashmir that killed 19 Indian soldiers. The mountainous region is divided between Indian and Pakistani-controlled zones, but both countries claim Kashmir in its entirety and have fought two wars over it.
The Indian army said last week that a “surgical strike” had destroyed “terrorist launching pads” used by Pakistan-backed militants. Islamabad rejected the Indian account, saying cross-border fire killed two Pakistani soldiers. Pakistan says it extends moral and diplomatic support to Kashmir militants but denies India’s accusations that it arms and trains them.
The two sides have exchanged several rounds of fire over the past week.
Five civilians were wounded by cross-border fire on Monday. No casualties were reported from Tuesday’s exchange.
Meanwhile, authorities in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir have banned the publication of a local newspaper, saying that its contents could incite violence in the troubled region.
The English daily “Kashmir Reader” did not publish for the second straight day on Tuesday, following a government order over the weekend for its owner to halt publication.
The order, handed down by police officials to the newspaper’s office, said the paper’s contents are “of such nature that can easily cause incitement of acts of violence and disturbance of public tranquility in the state.”
Kashmir is witnessing its largest protests against Indian rule in recent years, sparked by the July 8 killing of a popular rebel commander by Indian soldiers. The protests, and a sweeping security crackdown, have all but paralyzed life in the Himalayan region.
According to the state government, it sent the newspaper a notice a week ago questioning some items it had published, saying they could disturb public order.
However, Hilal Mir, the newspaper’s editor, said that his paper was not given any prior notice or an opportunity to explain its stand.
Rights group Amnesty International said the ban was a “setback to free speech” and called on authorities to revoke the order.
The “order does not specifically mention any news items in Kashmir Reader that incited violence,” said Aakar Patel, who heads the Indian chapter of Amnesty International. “This vaguely-worded shutdown order suggests that the newspaper is being targeted for its reporting.”
In July, the government shut down printing presses and temporarily banned newspapers from publishing for three days in a sweeping information blackout after days of anti-India protests. The officials had said the government action was aimed at saving lives and strengthening peace efforts.
Local newspaper editors had denounced that ban.
On Tuesday, Kashmir’s most widely circulated newspaper, “Greater Kashmir,” said in a front-page editorial that the latest ban shows that the government is willing to “take extreme measures” to muzzle the press.
