Agencies/Srinagar

Indian and Pakistan security forces traded fire along their border, leaving nine civilians dead on both sides and stoking tensions during the festival of Eid, officials said yesterday.
Officials in both countries said the civilian death tally from the cross-border firing was one of the highest in a single day in recent years in the flashpoint region.
The two countries accused each other of provoking the firing, which fanned tensions between the nuclear-armed nations.
On the Indian side, officials said they were shifting thousands of border residents to safer areas after mortar shells from Pakistani paramilitary troops killed five villagers and injured at least 30.
“Let everybody be assured our armed forces and paramilitary forces are fully ready,” Defence Minister Arun Jaitley told NDTV news channel.
A Pakistani military statement said four civilians, including two children “embraced shahadat (martyrdom) due to unprovoked firing by the Indian BSF (Border Security Force)” near Sialkot on the international boundary between Pakistan’s Punjab province and India’s Jammu and Kashmir.
Islamabad had lodged a “strong protest” with New Delhi about the incident, Pakistan’s foreign ministry said.
Pakistan said there was also firing around four places along the Line of Control, the de-facto border separating Pakistan and India, resulting in cancellation of some Eid al-Adha prayers but no casualties.
The casualties in Kashmir occurred when shells landed near a bus stand and houses in the Arnia sector of the southern Jammu region, Director General of Police K Rajendra said.
The firing caused panic on the Indian side, police said, and some villagers were being evacuated to bunkers.
“We’ve made arrangements for 10,000 people (to move) and we’re also making announcements informing people living along the border to move to safer areas,” Rajesh Kumar, inspector-general of police in the Jammu region, said.
Kumar said the situation was quiet along the international border but there was intermittent firing along the LoC in the Poonch sector.
India called off peace talks last month over Kashmir after Pakistan held talks with Kashmiri separatists.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose government is seen as more hawkish than its Congress predecessor, told the UN General Assembly late last month he is willing to hold talks as long as there is “an atmosphere of peace.”
Modi surprised many observers by inviting Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to his inauguration in May. But relations have soured since Modi called off the talks.  
India and Pakistan often accuse each other of violating the 2003 ceasefire agreement. But villagers in Kashmir said the latest firing was particularly heavy.
“I’ve never seen such massive firing. Bombs were falling on houses,” Vijay Kumar, one injured villager, told NDTV news.
The clash occurred days after Pakistani army chief General Raheel Sharif said troops would forcefully respond to any aggression at the border.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said Pakistan’s indiscriminate cross-border firing only shows the country’s frustration over its failure to rake up the Kashmir issue.
The chief minister rushed to Jammu from Srinagar despite the Eid al-Adha Adha festival to attend the cremation of the five civilians killed in shelling by Pakistan.
“Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif tried to raise the pitch over Kashmir during his UN General Assembly address. But he did not find any takers for his rant over Kashmir. It (Pakistan) is now showing its frustration by targeting civilian areas on our side of the border,” Abdullah said.
Since 1989, fighting between Indian forces and rebels seeking independence or merger of the territory with Pakistan has killed tens of thousands, mostly civilians.
Violence has fallen in the region since 2004 when the countries began a peace process, but there are sporadic rebel attacks on Indian forces while Kashmiris often allege rights abuses.
In other violence yesterday, troops killed three suspected rebels trying to cross the LoC from Pakistan, defence spokesman N N Joshi said, calling it “an attempt to infiltrate.”
Eid festivities were muted in Kashmir, devastated last month by heavy monsoon rains and floods which killed more than 450 people in the region and caused billions of dollars in damage to homes, businesses and livelihoods.
“I hope the next Eid will be like it used to be” with celebrations, Javed Ahmed, a trader whose business still is in ruins, said in Srinagar.