Sunderbani sector firing: Senior Pak High Commission official summoned

The Ministry of External Affairs summoned a senior official of the Pakistan High Commission in the national capital and a demarche was made lodging strong protest at the fatal casualties of Indian soldiers during an attempted cross-border infiltration by Pakistani terrorists in Sunderbani sector of Jammu and Kashmir on October 21.

Five to six Pakistani armed intruders tried to cross the Line of Control (LoC) and fired on an Indian Army patrol in the Sunderbani sector of Jammu region.

Three Indian Army soldiers were killed and one suffered injuries in the unprovoked cross-border action by Pakistan. Two intruders were also killed by the Indian armed forces.

The Pakistani side was informed that two of their armed intruders have been killed by the Indian security forces during the ensuing firefight and the Government of Pakistan should take custody of the dead bodies of its nationals, the MEA statement said.

"(The) Ministry condemned in the strongest terms such provocative action by Pakistan, which reveals their complicity in aiding and abetting terrorism and exposes the hollowness of Pakistan`s deceitful claims to promote constructive engagement and desire for peace," the statement added.

"Our grave concern at the continuing incidents of unprovoked ceasefire violations by the Pakistan forces along the LoC and the International Border (IB) was also shared," it said.

Despite repeated calls for restraint and adherence to the ceasefire understanding of 2003 for maintaining peace and tranquility, Pakistani forces have carried out 1591 incidents of unprovoked ceasefire violations along the LoC and IB in 2018 so far.

The MEA said that Pakistan was called on to "abide by its bilateral commitment not to allow any territory under its control to be used to support terrorism against India in any manner".