Indian Defense Minister Arun Jaitley has accused Pakistan of making unprovoked attacks on Indian-controlled Kashmir and has warned that further violence could lead to heavy retaliation.
Speaking in New Delhi on October 9, Jaitley said: “If Pakistan persists with this adventurism, then our forces will continue to fight,” and the cost to Pakistan would be “unaffordable.”
At least nine Pakistani and eight Indian civilians have been killed by cross-border shelling during the past week along a 200-kilometer stretch of the Line of Control that separates Indian and Pakistani-administered Kashmir.
India and Pakistan have fought three wars over the Muslim-majority territory since the end of British colonial rule on the subcontinent in 1947.
Indian-administered Kashmir is to hold elections in December and Kashmir’s status – divided between India and Pakistan and claimed by both countries – is a volatile issue.