ISLAMABAD: Indian forces fired across the Pakistani border on Friday night after mistakenly believing Pakistani troops had fired rockets into India, a Pakistani security force spokesman said.
No one was hurt in the firing and border force commanders later met to discuss the incident, the Pakistani spokesman said, but it underlined the nuclear-armed rivals' fragile ties.
The rare firing on the border at Wagah, between the Pakistani city of Lahore and India's Amritsar, came hours after the two countries agreed that their top diplomats would hold talks before their foreign ministers meet on the margins of the UN General Assembly in New York this month.
A spokesman for Pakistan's Rangers, a paramilitary border security force, said Indian soldiers had opened fire with rifles after three blasts from exploding rockets were heard on the Indian side.
'When the rockets were fired, they fired on the Pakistani side,' the spokesman, Nadeem Raza, said on Saturday. 'It was light firing from their side and we lodged a protest ... it was unprovoked.'
Pakistan had denied Indian accusations that Pakistani forces had fired the rockets, Raza said.
The two sides occasionally exchange fire along an old ceasefire line separating their forces in the disputed Kashmir region but firing on their international border to the south of Kashmir is very rare.
'We did not retaliate as it's the international border and the situation could have escalated,' Raza said.
Indian military spokesmen were not available for comment.
The neighbours have fought three wars since their independence in 1947 and nearly went to war again in 2002 following a militant attack on India's parliament.
They launched a tentative peace process in 2004 but India broke it off after last November's assault on the Indian city of Mumbai, blamed on Pakistan-based militants.
The two countries have held three bilateral meetings on the sidelines of international gatherings since June but have yet to resume the peace process.
The Pakistani Foreign Ministry said on Friday top diplomats from the two countries would hold talks before their foreign ministers meet in New York this month.
Analysts are not expecting a breakthrough at the talks, but the confirmation their foreign secretaries would meet underscored a tentative thaw in relations. – Reuters
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