India and Pakistan each summoned the other's charge d'affaires on Saturday after Border Security Force personnel shot two Pakistani men on the Punjab frontier, with the sides disputing whether the men were unarmed civilians or infiltrators.
India and Pakistan summoned each other's charges d'affaires on Saturday after a shooting on the international border in Punjab. Pakistan's foreign ministry said Border Security Force personnel used unprovoked lethal force against two unarmed Pakistani civilians in the Bedian sector on Friday, a Reuters account published by Khaleej Times reported.
Pakistan said it rejected any description of the dead men as infiltrators and called for an immediate, transparent investigation. The Wire reported that India's charge d'affaires in Islamabad, Satyanjal Pandey, was summoned.
India's Ministry of External Affairs later rejected what it called baseless allegations and summoned Pakistan's charge d'affaires, Saad Warraich, the Wire reported. New Delhi said three people had crossed into Indian territory in the Ferozepur sector and kept moving toward the border fence despite warnings to return. The ministry said the BSF was compelled to fire because they posed an imminent security threat.
The Hindu's morning digest said the two governments traded charges over the killing of two Pakistani men the BSF described as attempted infiltrators in Tarn Taran district. The Wire, citing The Hindu, identified the dead as 20-year-old Azmat Shah and 22-year-old Moshin Habibullah.
The accounts disagree on location labels, the number of people who crossed, and whether those killed were civilians or infiltrators. Neither side's public statement, as reported on Saturday, announced a joint inquiry or a change in border procedures.
People Sentiments Negative
- Pakistan's foreign ministry said the force used against the two men was wholly unjustified and grossly disproportionate.
- India's foreign ministry rejected Pakistan's account and protested what it called continued facilitation of illegal cross-border infiltration.