Pakistan lodges formal protest after Indian border troops kill two unarmed civilians

Pakistan summoned India’s chargé d’affaires on Saturday to protest the killing of two Pakistani civilians by India’s Border Security Force along the Bedian sector of the international border, calling the shooting an unprovoked and grossly disproportionate use of lethal force against unarmed men.

Pakistan’s Foreign Office said BSF personnel opened fire Friday on three unarmed residents of Ladhar village in Kasur, killing two and wounding a third, after the men had moved a few steps ahead of a border pillar. The deceased were identified as Azmat Rasool and Mohsin Jutt, both from Jattan Wali Haveli in Ladhar; the injured man was taken for medical treatment. According to security sources, none of the three had attempted to cross the border fence, and the incident is being described as a violation of established border procedures and the bilateral agreement governing the frontier.

The Foreign Office rejected any characterization of the men as infiltrators, saying the incident constitutes a serious violation of fundamental human rights, including the right to life, and raises broader concerns about the protection of civilians under international law. Islamabad called on India to conduct an immediate, transparent and credible investigation, take disciplinary and legal action against those responsible, and formally share its findings with the Pakistani government. The statement also urged India to respect international law and established border procedures, exercise maximum restraint in future encounters along the frontier, and take concrete steps to prevent similar incidents going forward.

The shooting comes against a backdrop of heightened friction between the two countries. A day before the border killings, the Inter-Services Public Relations director general, Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, publicly challenged Indian claims that security forces had neutralized a terrorist with ties to Pakistan’s military, producing the individual in question before reporters during a press briefing. Asked at that briefing whether the dispute over such claims risked tipping into renewed armed conflict between the two nuclear armed neighbors, Chaudhry said Pakistan’s armed forces remain prepared for any escalation and warned of what he called very harsh retribution should hostilities resume.

Friday’s deaths follow a pattern of recurring civilian casualties along the Pakistan-India border in recent years, including past incidents involving both direct firing incidents and cross-border shelling that have periodically strained the already fragile relationship between the two countries. The current episode also lands amid broader tension over India’s unilateral suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty, an issue Pakistani officials and commentators have separately flagged as compounding strain between the two governments well beyond the immediate question of border security.

With Pakistan’s protest formally lodged and an investigation now requested from New Delhi, the incident adds another point of friction to a relationship already carrying multiple unresolved disputes, and the coming days are likely to show whether India responds to Islamabad’s demand for a transparent inquiry or whether the episode instead hardens the standoff further, consistent with how previous cross-border civilian casualty incidents between the two countries have frequently played out.