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Pakistan accuses India of ceasefire line violation

ISLAMABAD, July 18 (Reuters) - Pakistan accused Indian soldiers on Monday of crossing the ceasefire line dividing the disputed Kashmir region and seizing a citizen.

The alleged violation involved "a few Indian soldiers" and a protest had been lodged, Pakistani military spokesman Major-General Shaukat Sultan told Reuters.

"The Indians crossed over the Line of Control (LoC), and got into a house around 200-250 metres (yards) inside (Pakistani territory) and tried to take away two people," Sultan said.

They returned to the Indian side with one prisoner, but also roughed up an elderly man in the house, he said.

"They haven't returned the citizen so far," the spokesman said.

Pakistan's director general of military operations contacted his Indian counterpart via a hotline to lodge a protest and demand the return of the captured man. The Indian officer in charge promised to respond on Tuesday, Sultan said.

A ceasefire on the LoC has largely held since November 2003, and leaders of both sides have described a peace process begun early last year as irreversible.

But there is disquiet in India over media reports that militant training camps have been reactivated in Pakistan to fuel a cross-border insurgency.