India sends back visiting Pakistani students amid flare-up in Kashmir

India said Wednesday a visiting delegation of Pakistani students was sent back in the wake of a flare-up on the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir over the killing of two troopers.

"A non-governmental organization (NGO) had invited Pakistani school students here. They had arrived in India on the same day when our troopers were killed in a barbaric manner," India's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Gopal Baglay said in a press briefing. "The ministry advised the NGO that it was not an appropriate time for such exchanges."

Reports said over 47 Pakistan school children accompanied by their teachers as part of a student exchange program had arrived in India on the invitation of a New Delhi-based NGO Routes 2 Roots.

India said Monday that Pakistani troops killed two of its troopers in Krishna Ghati sector of frontier Poonch district, about 180 km southwest of Srinagar city, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir.

However, the Indian claim was strongly rejected by Pakistan saying India needs to furnish evidence.

Both New Delhi and Islamabad have been accusing each other of resorting to unprovoked firings and violating cease-fire agreements, and both sides maintain that their troops gave befitting reply.

LoC is the de facto border that divides Kashmir into India and Pakistan-controlled parts.

Kashmir, the Himalayan region divided between India and Pakistan, is claimed by both in full. Since their independence from Britain, the two countries have fought three wars, two exclusively over Kashmir. Endit