ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office on Friday invited the Indian Foreign Secretary to visit Islamabad for discussion on the Kashmir dispute and to find a fair and just solution as per United Nations Security Council resolutions.

The message from Pakistan has been conveyed through a letter, which was received by the Indian High Commissioner, said a statement released by the FO.

The letter also mentioned finding a solution to the decades-old issue according to the “aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir”.

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Pakistan called for bringing to an immediate end the human right violations presently being committed by Indian security forces against the innocent people of India-held Kashmir (IHK), added the statement.

The FO also called for access to be granted to medical personnel and to provide adequate medical facilities to the injured civilians of IHK.

Earlier today, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon deplored the ongoing killings in India-held Kashmir as security forces there try to stamp out weeks of anti-government protests by Kashmiri civilians.

Uptick in violence

In the worst civilian violence to hit the restive region of Indian-held Kashmir since 2010, at least 70 Kashmiri civilians have been killed and thousands more injured in Indian-held Kashmir in clashes with security forces after the killing of a prominent Kashmiri separatist leader Burhan Wani, in a military operation on July 8.

Wani, a 22-year-old commander of Kashmir's largest pro-independence militant group Hizbul Mujahideen (HM), was killed along with two other separatists during a gun battle with Indian government forces.

Wani joined the HM group at the age of just 15, and was viewed as a hero by many in Kashmir. The state's former chief minister Omar Abdullah tweeted after his death that he had become the “new icon of Kashmir's disaffected”.

Witnesses said tens of thousands attended his funeral despite a curfew imposed by Indian authorities, chanting independence slogans.

Indian government troops in IHK have reportedly fired live ammunition, and used pellet guns and tear gas to control anti-government protesters.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had called an emergency meeting to discuss escalating violence in India-held Kashmir amid anti-India protests.

Pakistan's Foreign Office has also condemned the violence in Indian-held Kashmir.

HM is one of several groups that for decades have been fighting around half a million Indian troops deployed in the region, calling for independence for Kashmir or a merger with Pakistan.

Kashmir has been divided between rivals India and Pakistan since 1947, but both claim the territory in its entirety.

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Tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians, have died in the fighting since 1989.

Violence had sharply declined in recent years following a major crackdown by the hundreds of thousands of Indian forces deployed in the region.

But a recent uptick in militant attacks has galvanised frustrated young Kashmiris, majority of whom deeply resent the Indian military's presence.