India lodges 'strong' protest over Pak firing

Taking a serious view of recent incidents of 'grave' and 'unprovoked' firing from Pakistani side, India on Friday summoned Pakistan's Deputy High Commissioner Rifat Masood to lodge a 'strong' protest and press for steps to prevent recurrence of such incidents.

Masood was summoned by Y K Sinha, Joint Secretary (Pakistan) in the External Affairs Ministry, and a protest note handed over to her over the repeated ceasefire violations.

"A strong protest was conveyed over incidents of grave and unprovoked firing across the International Border by Pakistan, including the firing of rockets in Amritsar sector of the International Border on the night of January 8-9, 2010," External Affairs Ministry spokesman Vishnu Prakash said.

India asked 'Pakistan to take all necessary steps to prevent recurrence of such incidents,' Prakash said.

There have been several incidents of firing and shelling from Pakistani side along the Line of Control and the International Border over the last one month.

In one such case, Pakistani forces fired six rockets in villages around the Attari border in Punjab on January 9.

India sees these incidents as an attempt to give cover to terrorists infiltrating to this side.