India has rubbished Pakistan's claim that it shot down an Indian spy drone on Wednesday
India today said it is committed to peace on the border but would respond to unprovoked firing by Pakistan and would not let its guard down, after a series of ceasefire violations that have disconcerted New Delhi days after talks between prime ministers of the two countries.
Here are 10 developments in the story:
"We remain committed to steps that ensure peace and tranquility. But any unprovoked firing from Pakistan would be met with an equal and effective response," Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar said this evening after a high level meeting with three top ministers.
India's stern response came after New Delhi and Islamabad lodged protests against each other over border firing and Pakistan's claim that it had shot down an Indian "spy drone," which has been rubbished by New Delhi.
"The drone appears to be of Chinese design, available off the shelf," the Foreign Secretary said, rejecting Pakistan's allegation.
Pakistan had summoned the Indian envoy this morning and claimed that India had initiated firing at the border, and an Indian drone had violated its territorial integrity. This was hours after India protested strongly against border firing by Pakistan.
Foreign Secretary Jaishankar said India had questioned the Pakistani envoy in New Delhi, Abdul Basit, why Islamabad had not initiated a complaint if it believed India had fired first. Sources call it a "strange coincidence that Pakistan claimed it shot down an Indian drone soon after the violation" on Wednesday.
In ceasefire violations ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Jammu, a woman has been killed and nine, including two soldiers, have been injured in heavy firing from across the border in Akhnoor and RS Pura since yesterday.
Last week, PM Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif held talks on the sidelines of a regional conference in Ufa in Russia.
As part of breakthrough announcements after the talks, the two countries decided to arrange meetings of senior military officials to reduce tension along the border.
The two countries had also decided that their National Security Advisers would meet in Delhi soon.
Leaving the door open for talks, Foreign Secretary Jaishanker said: "If there is unprovoked firing and cross border terrorism, then obviously the situation is different. That choice is not ours."
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