Imran Khan ready to talk to Modi: Pakistan Foreign Minister

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan is ready to talk to his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi over telephone "to extend an invitation of peace", Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on Thursday.

Qureshi's comment came amid rising tensions between India and Pakistan.

Meanwhile, Indian and Pakistani armies traded mortar and small arms fire in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district for a second time on Thursday after the Pakistan Army violated the bilateral truce on the Line of Control (LoC).

Defence Ministry spokesman Lt Colonel Devender Anand said that at around 1 p.m., the Pakistanis shelled mortars and fired from small arms along the Krishna Ghati sector.

"The Indian Army retaliated strongly and effectively," the spokesman said.

Heavy firing exchanges had taken place earlier in the day between the two armies in the same sector for one hour from 6 a.m. to 7 a.m.

At around 6 a.m., Pakistan initiated unprovoked ceasefire violation by shelling mortars and firing from small arms along the Krishna Ghati sector, the spokesman said.

Authorities have shut down all educational institutions within 5 kilometres of the LoC and the international border in Rajouri, Poonch and Samba districts.

- IANS