Pakistan on Tuesday accused India of escalating tensions along the border in disputed Kashmir.
"There is escalation of tension along the Line of Control (LoC)" with regular reports of Indian shelling of the Pakistan side of the divided state, foreign office spokesman Riaz Mohammad Khan told reporters.
He said Pakistan had informed the United Nations military observers about the "violations" across the unofficial border separating the Indian and Pakistani zones of control.
"We have always maintained there should be de-escalation and lowering of tension because escalation can only aggravate the situation and achieve nothing," Khan said.
Pakistan keeps the situation along the LoC "under keen vigilance," he said adding that "we are fully prepared to deter any aggressive designs."
On Sunday the state media quoted a military commander in the Pakistani zone of Kashmir as saying that Indian firing and shelling had killed 175 civilians and wounded 722 this year.
Indian troops had fired about 64,000 mortar and artillery shells on the civilian population residing along the 760-kilometre (475-mile) LoC over the last 10 months, the commander said.
They targeted houses, markets, schools, power supply stations, water reservoirs, mosques and other buildings, he said, adding the Pakistani army had retaliated by targeting "Indian military installations and forward posts."
Military sources in Indian-controlled Kashmir said on Monday the rival armies had been trading heavy mortar fire, leaving 17 soldiers dead on both sides in the past three days.
Pakistan holds the northern third of Kashmir while the remainder of the predominantly Muslim Himalayan state is under Indian control.
Indian-administered Kashmir has been rocked by an 11-year Muslim insurgency that has claimed more than 34,000 lives.
The 53-year old dispute over Kashmir has caused two of the three wars between the South Asian neighbors since their independence in 1947 -- ISLAMABAD (AFP)
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