Pakistan accuses India of attack

Pakistan said yesterday that its forces had inflicted heavy casualties on Indian troops in an overnight clash in northern Kashmir. It also accused India of carrying out air raids.

India immediately denied that there had been any flare-up and dismissed Pakistan's claim of air strikes as an "outright lie".

The alleged clash, the most serious on the disputed border in Kashmir in the continuing eight-month military standoff between the nuclear armed rivals, came as U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage arrived in New Delhi yesterday.

A Pakistani military statement said the fighting started after the Indian army launched an "unprovoked attack" on a Pakistani army post in Gultari sector.

"Pakistan army successfully defended the post, causing heavy casualties to the enemy," it said.

"Unable to make any headway despite dozens of personnel killed and injured, the Indians resorted to a highly escalatory act by bombing the area using the Indian Air Force," the statement said.
It said the Pakistani army suffered no damage in the fighting.

Pakistan's military spokesman Major General Rashid Qureshi announced at a press conference in Islamabad: "Whenever there is a high profile visit to the sub-continent – and in this case Armitage has started his visit – the Indian government is in the habit of either increasing escalation or stage managing incidents ... ," Qureshi said.

The Indian Air Force was then brought in and carried out up to five bombing raids on the post, Qureshi said.

In New Delhi, Indian Defence Minister George Fernandes told reporters: "As far as the statement given by them, it is an outright lie".

An earlier defence ministry statement described the claims as "false and baseless."

"It is reiterated that Indian armed forces have neither crossed the Line of Control (LoC) nor attacked any place whatsoever," the statement said.

"The Pakistani allegations are apparently an effort at spreading disinformation and malicious propaganda to malign India internationally," the statement added.