B.C. diaspora hopes for peace amid rising India-Pakistan tensions [Video]

British Columbians with ties to India and Pakistan are expressing concern after India fired missiles on Pakistani-controlled areas Wednesday, stoking ongoing tensions between the two countries.

Pakistan said at least 26 people died in the missile strikes, and both countries said they suffered casualties in ensuing artillery exchanges along the Line of Control — which separates India and Pakistan in the contested Kashmir region.

Jatinder Bhan, who emigrated from Kashmir decades ago, says he is trying to understand the violence in the region.

“We’re hopeful that someday, peace will reign in the area and that we are able to, with the respect, go back and live peacefully with our other members of the community,” said the Coquitlam, B.C., resident.

WATCH | Pakistan calls India’s strikes an ‘act of war’: India fired missiles at Pakistan and Pakistani Kashmir early Wednesday, in what it said was retaliation for last month’s massacre of …