Pakistan has expressed disappointment that no progress has been made over the proposal for a meeting of Directors-General of Military Operations (DGMOs) from India and Pakistan to sort out tensions on the Line of Control (LoC) as was agreed upon when the Prime Ministers met in New York last month.
Responding to questions at a media briefing here on Friday, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry said, “We are also very disappointed on the continued ceasefire violations by Indian forces. The timing of the recent ceasefire violations by India was unfortunate as our Prime Minister was in the United States meeting the U.S. leadership.
In the last few days, we saw 27 attacks on our posts killing two civilians and one soldier.” He said it would not be appropriate for him to comment on the Indian Prime Minister expressing disappointment over LoC tensions, but India was indulging in unprovoked firing on the working boundary too.
No initiation policy
“You can ask the Indian side why they carried out unprovoked firing on our 27 posts recently,” Mr. Chaudhry said. “Our troops have a policy — we will not indulge in firing first — if the other side fires, we will respond effectively,” he said. Pakistan would not be keen on agitating the border at a time when its Prime Minister was undertaking an important visit to the United States.
Immediate dialogue
The answer lay in immediate dialogue to resolve this matter. The spokesman said the decision of the two Prime Ministers taken in New York for the two DGMOs to meet must be implemented quickly to resolve the issue of ceasefire violations.
Military sources said two civilians were injured when Indian troops resorted to unprovoked firing and mortar shelling at Dhamala village in the Charwah sector near Sialkot early on Friday.
“Pakistan wants good neighbourly relations with India and the Prime Minister has gone to every length to send out positive signals,” Mr. Chaudhry pointed out. He did not have an update on when the two DGMOs were meeting but they hadn’t met till now.
Escalating tension by unprovoked firing on Pakistan posts did not detract from the wish of Mr. Sharif to improve neighbourly ties. Such things should be factored in by the military officials.