India / Pakistan

Indian and Pakistani troops in disputed Kashmir are engaged in their most frequent cross-border fighting of at least two years, official data shows, even as both nuclear-armed rivals battle surging coronavirus outbreaks.

Press freedom in Indian-administered Kashmir is "under a serious threat from security forces", the International Press Institute (IPI) has said in a report published on Tuesday.

Indian authorities on Wednesday temporarily revoked a ban on social media sites and restored full internet access in disputed Kashmir for two weeks, seven months after they stripped the restive region of its statehood and semi-autonomy and enforced a total communications blackout.

A group of foreign diplomats based in New Delhi visited Indian Kashmir on Thursday for the first time after India scrapped the region’s special status five months ago. The visit to the troubled region comes as New Delhi says normalcy is returning to the region, where a strict clampdown imposed in August has been partially eased, but where hundreds still remain in detention and the internet continues to be shut down.

Indian Kashmir officially became a federally ruled territory Thursday, nearly three months after New Delhi stripped its decades-old special status, but peace remains elusive in the Himalayan region that has been wracked by a violent separatist insurgency and is the flashpoint of its dispute with Pakistan.

The UN human rights office says it is extremely concerned that the population of Indian-administered Kashmir continues to be deprived of a wide range of human rights.

At least six civilians and three soldiers are said to have died during cross-border skirmishes between Pakistani and Indian troops late on October 19, reportedly making it one of the deadliest days since New Delhi revoked the special status of Indian-administered Kashmir in August.

Pakistan has ruled out talks with India until India reverses recent controversial actions in the disputed Kashmir territory.

Pakistan's foreign minister has warned that India's “illegal occupation” of Muslim-majority Kashmir could drive the two nuclear-armed countries “into an accidental war.” Shah Mahmood Qureshi lashed out at Pakistan's southeastern neighbor amid heightened tensions since Aug. 5, when India's government changed the status of Indian-administered Kashmir - a region claimed by both countries.

India’s top court on Wednesday took up legal challenges to the government’s decision to revoke Indian-controlled Kashmir’s special status and asked it to explain its stance to the court.