Pakistani authorities issue alert to villagers living along LoC

Muzaffarabad - Prime Minister Imran Khan accused India of taking new aggressive actions.

Pakistani authorities on Sunday asked villagers along the heavily militarised Line of Control to remain alert as tensions rose with India.
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The advisory came after Pakistani officials evacuated more than 50 Chinese nationals working on a dam being constructed in Kashmir along the confluence of the Neelum and Jhelum rivers.
Authorities moved the workers last Tuesday after firing killed four civilians - including a four-year-old boy - and critically injured 11 others, authorities said.
Pakistan on Sunday accused India of using cluster bombs against civilians in the same area, in Noseri sector.
Authorities later asked the villagers through social media and WhatsApp messages to remain alert and not to approach any suspicious object as the "enemy was using toy bombs, mortar shells and artillery."
Local authorities later took a group of reporters to the Noseri area, on the LOC where Badr Munir, a senior government official, briefed them on the escalation.
An AFP reporter at the scene saw that the Noseri Bazaar appeared deserted, with shops closed and less traffic than usual on the roads.
Cluster munitions can contain dozens of smaller bomblets that disperse over large areas, often continuing to kill and maim civilians long after they are dropped.
Their use is banned under an international treaty, which neither India nor Pakistan has signed on to.
Prime Minister Imran Khan accused India of taking new aggressive actions, saying it could blow up into a regional crisis.
Amid heightened Indian aggression along the LoC, Pakistan's civil and military leadership convened a National Security Committee (NSC) meeting in Islamabad on Sunday.

• India
• Pakistan