India accuses Pakistan army of killing soldiers in ambush

India for the first timedirectly accused the Pakistan army of involvement in an ambushthat killed five Indian soldiers, and hinted on Thursday atretaliation for possibly the worst such attack since theneighbours signed a ceasefire in 2003.

"This incident will have consequences on our behaviour onthe Line of Control and for our relations with Pakistan,"Defence Minister A.K. Antony told parliament on Thursday,referring to the de facto border dividing the disputed Himalayanterritory of Kashmir.

"It is now clear that specialist troops of Pakistan armywere involved in this attack," Antony said, offering the Indiangovernment's strongest statement to date on the attack.

Six soldiers on patrol near their base about 450 metres fromthe Line of Control were ambushed in the early hours of Tuesday.Five were shot dead and one was wounded, army officials said.

While tit-for-tat shelling and machinegun fire is commonalong the disputed border, cross-border attacks by troops are rare.

Pakistan has strongly denied any involvement in the killingof the five Indian soldiers and has said it is committed to theceasefire agreement.

Pakistani military spokesmen were notimmediately available for comment on the latest Indianstatement.

On Thursday, a Pakistani civilian was wounded incross-border firing in Kashmir, the Pakistani military said,accusing Indian forces of "unprovoked" shooting. There was noimmediate comment from the Indian military.

Antony's accusation was significant as in his first commentson the incident, on Tuesday, he had been careful not to directlyimplicate the Pakistani army and had referred instead tomilitants accompanied by "persons dressed in Pakistan armyuniforms".

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government has been quietlyworking with Islamabad to relaunch stalled peace talks, possiblyas early as this month. Islamabad has also been pushing for ameeting between Singh and his new Pakistani counterpart, NawazSharif, in New York in September, a proposal New Delhi has saidit is considering.

Indian government officials said on Thursday no decision hadbeen taken on resuming the peace talks at a senior bureaucratlevel or on the proposed meeting between the two primeministers.

OPPOSITION CRITICISM

India's main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) accusedthe government of trying to play down the attack and of beingtoo soft on Pakistan, a damaging accusation ahead of what isexpected to be a closely fought election, due by next May.

"They wanted to preserve their relations with Pakistan butthey ended up with egg on their faces," said Brahma Chellaney,professor of strategic studies at the Centre for PolicyResearch, a think-tank in New Delhi.

The BJP caused a ruckus in parliament this week, blockingefforts by the ruling party to discuss long-pending economicreforms or the government's signature initiative to hugelyexpand a vote-winning scheme to give cheap food to the poor.

Facing rising political heat and a paralysed parliament, thegovernment indicated it could revise its statement after thechief of the army visited the area of the attack on Wednesday.

"We all know that nothing happens from (the) Pakistan sideof the Pakistan Line of Control without support, assistance,facilitation and often, direct involvement of the Pakistanarmy," Antony said in his statement to parliament on Thursday.

Indian army officials have said the attack was carried outby Pakistan's Border Action Team.  The unit includes members ofPakistan's commando Special Services Group and irregular forcesincluding members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based militantgroup, the army officers said.

"Our restraint should not be taken for granted, nor shouldthe capacity of armed forces and resolve of the government touphold the sanctity of the Line of Control ever be doubted,"Antony said.

The nuclear-armed rivals have fought three wars sincebecoming independent from Britain in 1947, two of them overKashmir. But defence analysts have said they do not expect thelatest incident to trigger a major retaliation from India.

Relations between the two neighbours have been showing signof improvement in the past year after souring in 2008 whenPakistan-based gunmen attacked India's financial capital ofMumbai, killing 166 people. 

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