By LAURINDA KEYS, Associated Press Writer
NEW DELHI, India (AP) - Indian and Pakistani troops shelled each other in disputed Kashmir overnight, and the Indian army ordered the evacuation of dozens of border villages, raising fears of war.
As the shelling ended two days of relative calm, Pakistan warned that India's build-up of troops at the border could make a confrontation between the two nuclear-armed nations inevitable.
``The Indian government is putting itself into a corner where it would be difficult for them to now back off,'' said Gen. Rashid Quereshi, spokesman for Pakistan's military-led government. ``Any deployment in excess of what is required ... will be seen as a threat by the other country.''
The two neighbors on Thursday exchanged diplomatic and economic sanctions seen as the toughest since they last fought a war in 1971. Tensions have surged since a Dec. 13 suicide attack on India's parliament that left nine Indians and five attackers dead. India accuses Pakistan of supporting the attackers, a charge Pakistan denies.
