Pakistan summons Indian envoy over border 'ceasefire violation' which killed a 75-year-old civilian

Pakistan summoned India's Deputy High Commissioner JP Singh in Islamabad on Wednesday, 15 November, over a recent ceasefire violation which resulted in the death of an elderly civilian woman. Singh was told by Pakistani authorities that an "unprovoked ceasefire violation" had killed the victim a day earlier.

Pakistan and India frequently blame each other for violating ceasefire agreements along the border which then lead to both countries' armed forces trading fire. Such confrontations have sharply escalated in 2017 as compared to previous years, according to Pakistani officials.

While condemning the latest incident, the Pakistani foreign office released a statement, saying, "Despite calls for restraint, India continues to indulge in ceasefire violations."

Islamabad went on to say that Indian security forces were responsible for more than 1,300 violations so far in 2017, while in 2016, there were about close to 400 such incidents.

Additionally, Pakistani authorities have also accused Indian military personnel of intentionally targeting civilians living in border areas.

"The deliberate targeting of civilians is indeed deplorable and contrary to human dignity and international human rights and humanitarian laws," the foreign office stated.

Pakistan's reaction comes after the 75-year-old woman was killed in the area known as Azad Kashmir on Tuesday, 14 November.

The border area in and around Kashmir, a heavily-disputed territory, broadly hosts three regions – one claimed by India, the other by Pakistan, while the third region claims to be independent.

The two nuclear powers are going through a tense phase in their troubled relationship, with frequent cross-border incidents and frontier violations taking place over the past few months. The dispute is centred on who controls Kashmir, and a solution seems quite a long way off.

Since their independence from Britain in 1947, both countries have fought three bloody wars – two of them over Kashmir.