Pakistan summons Indian envoy over embassy protest

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Pakistan summons Indian envoy over embassy protest

(Xinhua) 08:28, August 08, 2013

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ISLAMABAD, Aug. 7 -- Pakistan summoned a senior Indian diplomat and asked him to ensure security of its diplomatic mission in New Delhi following a protest demonstration outside the Pakistani High Commission.

Indian media has reported that a group of youth belonging to the Indian ruling Congress party gathered outside the Pakistan High Commission Wednesday to protest the alleged killings of five Indian soldiers in Jammu and Kashmir.

Nearly 200 members climbed police barricades and shouted anti- Pakistan slogans, Indian media quoted the Delhi police as saying.

The Pakistani Foreign Ministry expressed concerns at the demonstration in front of its diplomatic mission and called for security.

"Some demonstrators gathered in front of our High Commission and Pakistan House (residence of the ambassador) in New Delhi today. The protesters raised slogans against Pakistan," a Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

"We summoned Indian Deputy High Commissioner to the Foreign Office to stress that protection of Pakistan High Commission and Pakistan House is the responsibility of the Indian government," Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry said in a statement.

He called for strengthening security of Pakistan's representation in New Delhi.

Tension between the two countries increased after Indian defense officials said that Pakistani troops attacked an Indian post along the Line of Control (LoC) in the disputed Kashmir region late Monday night, killing five Indian soldiers.

Pakistan's military says that Indian troops fired on a post on Wednesday and critically injured two soldiers.

Top military commanders of Pakistan and India on Wednesday spoke by hotline on reducing tensions along the LoC.

The director generals of military operations of the two countries established contact a day after Indian and Pakistan militaries accused each other of violation of a 2003 ceasefire by resorting to firing on posts.

Pakistan and India declared ceasefire along the LoC in 2003.

Guns had been relatively silenced since then, however border troops some time traded fire. Both sides routinely accuse each other of violations.

The Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Tuesday Pakistan remains committed to the ceasefire agreement of 2003 which is an important confidence building measure and should be respected in letter and spirit.

The LoC escalation started in January this year when skirmishes between armies of the two nuclear neighbors claimed lives of five troopers, two from India and three from Pakistan.

Kashmir, the Himalayan region divided between India and Pakistan is claimed by both in full. Since their independence from Britain in 1947, the two countries have fought three wars, two exclusively over Kashmir.