India summons Pakistan Deputy High Commissioner in the wake of continued ceasefire violations

New Delhi: For the fourth time this month, India on Wednesday summoned a senior Pakistani High Commission official in the wake of continued ceasefire violations by Pakistan along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir.

Informed sources here said the Ministry of External Affairs on Wednesday evening summoned Pakistan Deputy High Commissioner Syed Hyder Shah, though more details were awaited.

Wednesday's summons came after similar steps by the External Affairs Ministry on November 2, 9 and 16.

This came even as the government confirmed on Wednesday that Sartaj Aziz, Foreign Policy Advisor to Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, will visit India for the December 3-4 Heart of Asia Istanbul Process conference on development and security in Afghanistan.

Pakistan's de facto foreign policy chief's participation in the Afghanistan conference comes amid heightened border and diplomatic tensions between the two countries.

On Tuesday, three Indian soldiers were killed on the LoC. India vowed revenge after the body of of one of its soldiers was found mutilated at the de facto border in the Kashmir Valley. Pakistan rejected the allegation as "baseless".

The border tension continued on Wednesday with Pakistan alleging that at least nine persons were killed when cross-border shelling from India hit a passenger bus in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

"At least nine people have been killed and seven wounded," Speaker of Pakistani Kashmir's Assembly Shah Ghulam Qadir said, accusing the Indian Army of "deliberately targeting" civilians.

The bus, according to Qadir, was hit as it was travelling from Kel to Muzaffarabad in the Neelum Valley region of divided Kashmir.

On this side, the Indian Army said cross-border firing at various places on the LoC continued for hours on Wednesday and three Border Security Force (BSF) troopers were injured.