Conflicts & War

India accuses Pakistan of killing fisherman, to lodge protest

New Delhi, Nov 8 (EFE).- India on Monday accused the Pakistani maritime authorities of killing a fisherman and wounding another “in an unprovoked firing incident” and said that it will lodge a diplomatic protest over the event.

“In an incident that took place on Nov. 6, the Pakistani Maritime Security Agency, in an unprovoked firing incident, fired at an Indian fishing boat resulting in death of one Indian fisherman while another was injured,” an Indian official privy to the incident told EFE on grounds of anonymity.

The injured fisherman is being treated at a hospital in the western Indian state of Gujarat, she added.

“We have taken serious note of this incident. We are going to take up this issue diplomatically with the Pakistan side,” the official said. “The matter is under investigation and further details will be shared in due course.”

Disputes in the territorial waters of both countries are common, as are arrests of Indian fishermen in Pakistan and vice versa.

Some often end up imprisoned for years in the other country, although fatal incidents are less frequent.

On Oct. 19, the Pakistani army claimed that it had detected and “blocked” an Indian submarine that tried to intrude into its territorial waters, the third such incident that Islamabad has reported in recent years.

The latest incident comes as tensions between the two nuclear armed neighbors remain high following India’s move to abrogate the special status of Jammu and Kashmir – its only Muslim-majority state that is disputed with Pakistan – on Aug.5, 2019.

Following the development, both countries downgraded their diplomatic relations, with Pakistan expelling the Indian High Commissioner and recalling its own, while also suspending bilateral trade.

Both nuclear powers also experienced their worst military escalation in decades in 2019 after Indian fighters bombarded an alleged Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) military camp in Pakistani territory.

The terrorist group had claimed responsibility for an attack in Indian Kashmir on Feb. 14 in which 42 police officers died, the worst attack in the region in three decades.

India and Pakistan have fought two wars and engaged in multiple minor conflicts over Kashmir since the Indian subcontinent gained independence from the British in 1947. EFE

daa/pd/sc

Related Articles

Back to top button