India- Pakistan tensions

\Tensions rise betwen nuclear neighbours Pakistan and India

India accused Pakistan of the "barbaric and inhuman" mutilation of two soldiers killed in a Kashmiri border attack as the crisis between the two nuclear-armed neighbours intensified.

the Telegraph,

9 January, 2013

Indian officials summoned Pakistan's High Commissioner to New Delhi for a dressing down as grisly details of the attack were confirmed by an army spokesman.

"We can confirm that one of the Indian soldiers was beheaded by the Pakistani army in Kashmir," the spokesman J Dahiya told AFP, adding that the head had apparently been carried away.

Kashmir has been at the centre of Pakistan and India's difficult relationship since independence. The dispute has sparked two full-scale wars and countless skirmishes.

Relations between the two countries have improved since a low point of 2008 when Pakistan-based terrorists attacked multiple targets in Mumbai.

The latest flare-up was ignited at the weekend when Pakistan claimed that Indian troops crossed the Line of Control, attacking one of its military posts.

Two Indian soldiers died after a firefight erupted in disputed Kashmir on Tuesday, in what appears to be a reciprocal attack. The Indian army said a patrol moving in fog discovered Pakistani troops about 500 metres inside Indian territory.

"Regular Pakistan troops crossed the Line of Control ... and engaged the Indian troops who were patrolling the sector," India's Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.

"Two Indian soldiers were killed in the attack and their bodies subjected to barbaric and inhuman mutilation." The allegations were denied by Pakistan, which called for the United Nations to investigate.

"These are baseless and unfounded allegations," it said in a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Hasan Askari Rizvi, an analyst based in Lahore, said the exchanges were the most serious threat to peace since a ceasefire was declared in Kashmir in 2003.

However, he added that both countries were keen to stop the dispute going further.

"Although they both have complaints, I don't see that either side wants to reverse the warming in relations – particularly in terms of trade," said Dr Rizvi.

In recent weeks a more liberal visa regime has been agreed between the two countries and on Sunday the Pakistan's cricket team completed its first tour of India in five years.

Salman Khurshid, India's foreign minister, also sought to ease tensions.

"I think it is important in the long term that what has happened should not be escalated," he said. "We cannot and must not allow the escalation of any unwholesome event like this."

With elections looming in both countries, the concern is that populist parties will take to the streets, using Kashmir to whip up anger and drive nationalist voters to the polls.

In Pakistan, extremists are already threatening a fresh jihad.

Wali-ur-Rehman, a senior Pakistan Taliban commander, said he was prepared to send fighters to Kashmir in a video released at the weekend.

"Allah willing, the mujahideen of Tehrik-e-Taliban will arrive in Kashmir and as per the Islamic Sharia will help the Kashmiris get their rights," he said, according to a translation published by the Middle East Media Research Institute.

For update see - US urges India, Pakistan to cool Kashmir tensions