Pakistan says civilian killed in firing on border

Islamabad: Pakistan on Saturday said a civilian was killed and two others were injured in alleged "unprovoked firing" across the border by the Border Security Force.

A Pakistani military official here said a civilian was killed and two others were injured "due to unprovoked firing of heavy weapons, including mortars", by BSF personnel near Sialkot city in Punjab. On Thursday, Pakistan had said a paramilitary Rangers personnel was killed in "unprovoked" firing by the BSF in the same area. An Indian soldier was killed on Tuesday in firing by Pakistani troops. Tensions also simmered at the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir over the past two months despite a ceasefire agreement. Both sides claimed that they had not violated the ceasefire on the LoC and were only responding to unprovoked firing. The tensions on the LoC were discussed by the Prime Ministers of the two countries during their meeting on the margins of the UN General Assembly in New York last month. Though Prime Ministers Manmohan Singh and Nawaz Sharif had agreed on a meeting of the Directors General of Military Operations of the two countries, no dates have been fixed yet. Indian has said that normalcy on the LoC is one of the main criteria for holding talks between the two sides.