India, Pakistan summon top diplomats over border incident
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E-mailOct 3 (Reuters) - India and Pakistan summoned each other's top diplomats on Saturday over a border incident on October 2, with New Delhi rejecting Islamabad's allegation that Indian forces had killed two unarmed Pakistani civilians and saying those involved had crossed illegally into Indian territory.
Pakistan's foreign ministry said earlier on Saturday that personnel from India's Border Security Force had used "unprovoked lethal force" against two unarmed Pakistani civilians in the Bedian sector along the international border on Friday.
"Pakistan categorically rejects any attempt to mischaracterize the deceased as 'infiltrators'," the ministry said in a statement.
Pakistan said it had summoned India's chargé d'affaires to lodge a protest over the incident and called for an "immediate, transparent and credible investigation".
India's foreign ministry later rejected what it called "baseless and motivated allegations" and said it had summoned the chargé d'affaires of the Pakistan High Commission to protest at the "continued facilitation of illegal cross-border infiltration from Pakistan".
The ministry said three people had crossed into Indian territory in the Ferozepur sector of Punjab and continued moving towards the border fence despite multiple warnings from the BSF to return to Pakistan.
"The BSF was compelled to engage them for posing an imminent security threat," the ministry said.
India said the incident reflected "a clear pattern of repeated cross-border movement by armed narcotics syndicates operating from Pakistan" and urged Islamabad to investigate what it described as cross-border infiltration and drug-smuggling activities.
India also urged Pakistan to respect the international border, observe bilateral arrangements and ensure its forces prevented unauthorised movement from its side.
Relations between the two nuclear-armed rivals have been strained since a four-day war in 2025, the worst in decades, followed by a militant attack on tourists in Indian Kashmir that killed 26 people.
New Delhi accused Pakistan of backing the attack, which Islamabad denied.
(Reporting by Disha Mishra in Bengaluru and Reporting by Mubasher Bukhari in Lahore; Editing by Toby Chopra, Alison Williams and Alex Richardson)
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