Kashmirs Flee Front Line as India-Pakistan Tensions Intensify

There are no clear reports on what ignited that the latest fighting on Saturday in the Uri sector on the so-called Line of Control (LoC) that divides the mostly Muslim Himalayan region.
 
Indian officials allege that artillery shells fired by the Pakistani army fell in the Uri area and hundreds of villagers had fled from their homes.
 
Indian forces returned artillery fire, an Indian officer said, the first time the heavy guns had been used since a 2003 ceasefire along the disputed frontier.
 
The Pakistani Foreign Ministry summoned the Indian Deputy High Commissioner J.P. Singh and condemned," the unprovoked ceasefire violations by the Indian occupation forces along the Line of Control at Nikial Sector and Thurti Narr village resulting in the martyrdom of an innocent civilian while injuring three others".
 
In a statement, Pakistani Foreign Ministry  spokesman Muhammad Faisal said ceasefire violations by India are a threat to regional peace and security and may lead to a strategic miscalculation.
 
The Spokesperson said that Indian forces during this year have carried out more than 400 ceasefire violations along the Line of Control and the Working Boundary, resulting in the martyrdom of 17 innocent civilians and injuries to 68 others.
 
Anti-India sentiment runs deep among Kashmir's mostly Muslim population, and most support the separatists' cause against Indian rule, despite a decades-long military crackdown to fight dissent.
 
Separatist groups have been fighting since 1989 for the Indian-administered portion to become independent or merge with Pakistan.
 
Nearly 70,000 people have been killed in the uprising and the ensuing Indian military crackdown. India maintains roughly 500,000 soldiers in the territory.
 
The conflict in Indian-controlled Kashmir is basically a struggle for self-determination with residents of the region demanding a plebiscite while India rejects the call.