Pakistan asks UN to act to prevent crisis

Alarmed by the escalation of tension with India along the LoC , Pakistan yesterday asked the UN to act before the situation snowballs into a "full-fledged crisis".

Pakistan's ambassador to the UN Maleeha Lodhi met the Deputy UN Secretary General Jan Eliasson and the Chef de Cabinet of the Secretary General Edmond Mulet during which she alleged that the situation along the Line of Control (LoC) posed a "grave threat to international peace and security".

Lodhi, according to a statement issued by the Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the UN, in her meeting with UN officials alleged that escalating tensions on the LoC "was a deliberate attempt" by India to "divert the attention of the international community from the gross human right violations being committed" by it in Kashmir.

Meanwhile, a day after Indian troops killed 10 civilians in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said Pakistan will not tolerate India's "deliberate targeting" of civilians and ambulances.

"We cannot tolerate deliberate targeting of innocent civilians particularly children and women, ambulances and civilian transport," the Prime Minister said during a high-level meeting on Thursday.

"Pakistan has exercised maximum restraint despite the continuing ceasefire violations from Indian security forces along the Line of Control (LoC)."

The clash occurred a day after India warned of retribution after losing three soldiers in Pakistan firing and after Pakistan yesterday rejected as "false" and "baseless" the charges that the body of an Indian soldier was mutilated by Pakistani soldiers in a cross LoC-attack.