The Indian army has been accused of war crimes after videos emerged of its military firing at targets in Pakistan from civilian areas of Indian-held Kashmir.
Residents in the Muslim-majority village of Panzgam in Kupwara district revealed on Monday that Indian forces entered the area with heavy artillery late last week and began using the village as a base to launch attacks against the Pakistani army.
Villagers said that not only were they placed in the direct line of retaliatory attacks but the deafening sound from bofor artillery guns had damaged homes, terrorised children and turned the quiet village into a war zone.
By Monday, three Kashmiri civilians, including an eight-year-old boy had died in a neighbouring village due to the retaliatory shelling.
Meanwhile, in Pakistan administrated Kashmir, a two-year-old boy was killed and four others injured by Indian mortar fire.
While the cross-border shelling has since ceased, residents said the effect of escalating tensions was palpable.
Kashmir has sparked two of the three wars between India and Pakistan, and it continues to be the primary source of tensions in bilateral ties.
Tensions have escalated particularly since August 2019 when India unilaterally revoked the decades-old constitutionally enshrined semi-autonomous status of the two-thirds of the disputed territory it administers.
Pakistan rejected the move as a violation of U.N. security council resolutions on Kashmir and existing bilateral agreements, saying neither side is allowed to unilaterally alter the status of the internationally recognized disputed territory.
Islamabad has, with the help of close ally China, raised the issue at the U.N. Security Council. But New Delhi has rejected any foreign intervention, saying the revocation of Kashmir’s status is India’s internal matter.
