India, Pakistan border firing enters seventh day
03:05 a.m. Aug 05, 1998 Eastern

By Sheikh Mushtaq

SRINAGAR, India, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Indian and Pakistani troops exchanged fire
for the seventh day along the disputed Kashmir border on Wednesday, but there
were no fresh reports of casualties, an Indian defence spokesman said.

``Firing continues in the Kachhal and Machil sectors of Kupwara area. We have
also retaliated. So far there are no reports of any casualties today,'' the spokesman
said.

Kupwara district is 87 km (54 miles) northwest of Srinagar, the summer capital of
Jammu and Kashmir.

The spokesman said Pakistan also fired heavy artillery in the Rustam and Sultan
Daki areas of the Uri sector, about 100 km (62 miles) west of the summer capital
Srinagar.

``There are also reports of intermittent firing from Siachen Glacier,'' the Indian
spokesman said, referring to a high-altitude no mans land where armies of the two
neighbours are wrestling for strategic control.

Intermittent exchanges of fire between Indian and Pakistani troops is common, but
the clashes have escalated along the 720-km (450-mile) ceasefire line -- called the
Line of Control -- since the two neighbours conducted nuclear tests in May.

More than 95 people have been killed on both sides of the border in the past
week.

Indian Defence Minister George Fernandes was scheduled to make a statement in
parliament later on Wednesday on the border firing, which has worsened
prospects of the two South Asian countries resuming stalled peace talks.

In three major incidents of guerrilla attacks linked to a separatist Kashmir
rebellion, 57 people died in Jammu and Kashmir and the neighbouring Himachal
Pradesh state this week.

Thirty-eight people were killed early on Monday in an attack in the Chamba
district of Himachal Pradesh province, across the border from Kashmir. India
blamed Pakistan-backed guerrillas for the killings.

Nineteen died in a similar attack on Tuesday in the Poonch border area of Jammu
and Kashmir.

Pakistan denies Indian charges that it arms Kashmiri rebels and says it only
provides them moral and diplomatic support.

Three civilians and two soldiers were killed on the Indian side on Tuesday
following Pakistani artillery shelling in the Uri sector, the Indian spokesman said.
Six soldiers and 18 civilians were also wounded, he added.

At least 15 civilians were wounded on Tuesday evening in the Kupwara sector
and civilian property was damaged, he said without elaborating.

Pakistani officials said on Tuesday that India had increased shelling, killing at least
three civilians and raising the death toll on their side to 65 since last Thursday.

India has put the number of deaths at more than 30 on its side of Kashmir since
the firing started.

The two countries have fought two wars since independence from Britain in 1947
over Kashmir. India rules two-thirds of the Kashmir valley and Pakistan the rest.

Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee said this week India was keen to resume
bilateral peace talks with Pakistan. Pakistani Foreign Minister Gohar Ayub Khan
repeated Islamabads demand for mediation, which India rejects.

New Delhi says Kashmir is one of the several issues the two nations must discuss.
Islamabad calls Kashmir the ``core'' issue that must be resolved first.