Protesters at UN reject Kashmiri violence

(28 Feb 2019) Nearly 150 protesters gathered outside the United Nations in New York to reject the violence between Pakistan and India over the disputed region of Kashmir. The protests came as fresh skirmishes erupted between Indian and Pakistani soldiers along the so-called Line of Control that divides disputed Kashmir between the two nuclear-armed rivals. World powers have called on the nations to de-escalate the tensions gripping the contested region since a Feb. 14 suicide bombing killed over 40 Indian paramilitary troops in Indian-controlled Kashmir. India responded with a pre-dawn airstrike on Tuesday inside Pakistan, the first such raid since the two nations' 1971 war over territory that later became Bangladesh. The situation then escalated further with Wednesday's aerial skirmish, which saw Pakistan say it shot down two Indian aircraft, one of which crashed in Pakistan-held part of Kashmir and the other in India-controlled Kashmir. Pakistan later aired a video of a man it identified as the Indian pilot. Pakistan's prime minister pledged on Thursday that his country would release a captured Indian fighter pilot, a move that could help defuse the most serious confrontation in two decades between the nuclear-armed neighbors. Since India and Pakistan became independent countries in 1947, Kashmir, the Himalayan border region split between the two, has been a flashpoint, evoking passions on both sides about to which country it rightfully belongs. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...