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India denies torture charge by Pakistan

"There is no question of torture. We shot dead an infiltrator. There was a flag meeting on Wednesday where the body was handed over. One of our own officers was killed in the encounter," a defence ministry spokesman said.

Earlier, Pakistan had accused India of capturing, torturing and murdering one of its border guards and said the incident had once again raised tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours.

Pakistan said Lance-Corporal Maqsood was 'fraudulently lured and captured' last Wednesday while trying to recover his camel, which had strayed into the no-man's land along the border, after Indian troops had given him the go-ahead.

He was then tied up, tortured and ultimately shot 'at point-blank range' through the chest, Pakistan's military spokesman Major-General Rashid Qureshi told reporters.

He even showed a gruesome video of the dead man at a press conference in Islamabad.

The video showed a dead man on a hospital bed, his face and body marked with bruises, burns and bullet wounds.

"From the condition of the mutilated body, it is evident that the deceased was subjected to intense torture by burning his skin with cigarette butts, shooting him in the leg and physical beating before he was killed," he said.

"From the autopsy, it has been ascertained that he was brutally murdered," Qureshi said.

Indian and Pakistani troops traded fire after the man was captured Qureshi said adding he had reports the Indians had suffered eight casualties.

It was after this that Maqsood was probably murdered, he said.

Qureshi said the incident took place along the border in the province of Punjab, in a hot, desert region where soldiers use camels to patrol the area.

Maqsood's body was returned to Pakistan on Thursday and he was buried with full military honours, he said.

"This could have escalated, but it the Pakistani side exercised restraint. After such an incident, it becomes difficult to control troops," he said.

Qureshi appealed for international pressure to force India to withdraw troops from the border so that incidents like this do not 'snowball' out of control and spark a war.

Reuters

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