HYDERABAD: Pakistani army soldiers show a student to operate an assault rifle during their visit to a garrison yesterday. Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the country’s powerful army chief left yesterday for a strategically located secret area bordering India to witness a military exercise of ground and air power amid increasing tension with India over Kashmir. — AP

KHAIRPUR TAMIWALI, PAKISTAN: Pakistan's prime minister and powerful army chief traveled yesterday to a strategic area along the border with India to observe a drill meant to display the country's military might amid escalating tensions with New Delhi over the disputed Kashmir region.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Army Chief Gen. Raheel Sharif watched the exercise - dubbed "Strike of Thunder" and complete with planes, tanks, artillery and other heavy weapons - to test the army's preparedness.

The drill, in the Khairpur Tamiwali desert area near the district or Bahawalpur, came three days after Indian fire in Kashmir killed seven Pakistani soldiers in a new escalation between the two nuclear-armed rivals.

Trading fire

The two sides have traded fire repeatedly in recent weeks across the Line of Control, which divides the Himalayan region into India- and Pakistani-controlled zones. Both Pakistan and India claim Kashmir in its entirety.

Pakistan's army chief has less than two weeks before retirement after his three-year term. The government has not yet named his successor. In a speech at the drill, Pakistan's prime minister paid a glowing tribute to the armed forces and reiterated his government's commitment to fighting terrorism.

Nawaz Sharif also issued a veiled warning to India, saying that Pakistan would deliver a "befitting response" to any hostile enemy action. The latest escalation was set off by a deadly September attack on an Indian military base in the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir. India has blamed Pakistan-based militants for that attack and others, a charge Pakistan denies.

Tensions have run high since Indian troops killed a Kashmiri militant leader in July. The killing ignited some of the most violent protests in years, and dozens of people have been killed in India's resulting crackdown.

Despite pleas from the United Nations, the two sides have continued to exchange fire in Kashmir. The violence has forced thousands of villagers on the Pakistani side to flee for safety. India says it has been retaliating for Pakistani violations of a 2003 cease-fire. Two of the three wars between India and Pakistan since 1947 have been fought over their competing claims to Kashmir.-AP