Indo-Pak tension soars after 'surgical strikes'

India evacuated thousands of people living near the border with Pakistan yesterday, a day after carrying out strikes along the de-facto frontier in disputed Kashmir that have dramatically escalated tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours.

Authorities in parts of northern India said they were evacuating villages within 10 kilometres of the border following Thursday's raids, which provoked furious charges of "naked aggression" from Pakistan.

Indian sources said Thursday that commandos had carried out "surgical strikes" several kilometres (miles) inside Pakistan-controlled Kashmir on what they called "terrorist" targets.

The move followed a deadly assault on one of India's army bases in Kashmir that New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-based militants, triggering a public outcry and demands for military action.

India has also launched a diplomatic campaign to try and isolate Pakistan.

Indian officials said troops had killed militants numbering in the double digits and that its soldiers had returned safely to base before dawn, but declined to provide more evidence of the operation.

Indian and Pakistani troops regularly exchange fire across the disputed border known as the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir, but sending ground troops over the line is rare.

Islamabad has dismissed the talk of surgical strikes across the heavily militarised LoC as an "illusion" and said two of its soldiers had been killed in small arms fire.

Pakistan also captured an Indian soldier on Thursday on its side of the border, but India said this was unrelated to the raid as the man had inadvertently strayed across the frontier.

Indian Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh yesterday assured that all attempts will be made to secure the release of the soldier who inadvertently crossed over to Pakistan.

The Indian Army had yesterday also rejected as "false and baseless" reports in a section of Pakistani media that eight Indian soldiers were killed by Pakistani military in retaliatory fire.

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, facing international calls for restraint, told a cabinet meeting that Pakistan's commitment to peace "must not be construed as weakness".

Terming "Indian aggression" as a threat to the entire region, Pakistan's Sharif warned that Pakistan is also capable of executing surgical strikes and will not allow anyone to "cast an evil eye" on it.

Sharif said that Pakistan will take all necessary steps to protect its people and territorial integrity in case of any aggression or violation of the Line of Control (LoC).

The cabinet also joined the PM in completely rejecting the Indian claims of carrying out "surgical strikes", Radio Pakistan reported.

Pakistan's Defence minister Khawaja Asif said that Pakistan does not want escalation of tension but is ready to meet any eventuality.

The raid also raised the possibility of military escalation that could wreck a 2003 Kashmir ceasefire.

India evacuated more than 10,000 villagers living near the border, and ordered security forces to upgrade surveillance along the frontier in Jammu and Kashmir state, part of the 3,300-km (2,100 miles) border.

Images from the northern Indian state of Punjab showed people piling bedding and cooking equipment onto trailers and cramming into crowded buses as security forces stood guard.

The United Nations has said it is watching the situation "with great concern", calling on India and Pakistan to exercise restraint, while Washington also called on both countries to improve communications to reduce tensions.

Pakistan's foreign ministry said in a statement it had protested India's "frivolous" surgical strikes claim to ambassadors from UN Security Council members China, France, Russia, the UK and the US in Islamabad yesterday, calling on them to help ensure peace in the region.

Pakistan yesterday said that Sharif's special envoys had arrived in Beijing to brief China on the deteriorating situation in Indian-controlled Kashmir. China, a Pakistan ally, expressed its concern, Pakistan's foreign ministry said in a statement.

India and Pakistan have fought three wars since they gained independence from Britain seven decades ago, two of them over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.