SRINAGAR: Calm prevailed on Wednesday night at the Line of Control in Kashmir after top Indian and Pakistani military officials agreed to deescalate tensions over a series of border clashes that threatened whatever bilateral progress the old foes have made recently.
Director Generals of Military Operations (DGMOs) of the two sides yesterday had discussed over phone ways to defuse growing friction between the two armies which accuse each other of killing their soldiers by crossing over the LoC, which divides the disputed Himalayan region.
There was no incident of firing reported from the LoC Wednesday night, Indo Asian News Service reported citing army sources.
Tempers between the south Asian nations ran high after two Indian soldiers and three Pakistani armymen were killed at the LoC, the worst border clashes since a truce agreement came into effect a decade ago.
The DGMO meeting came as Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar accused India of engaging in “war-mongering” in the aftermath of clashes, which left two Indian soldiers and three Pakistani army men dead in last ten days.
Khar also said Pakistan is “deeply disappointed” to hear statements from India that are “upping the ante” and claimed her government is creating a “precedence” of not following war-mongering.
Her comments came close on the heels of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s stern warning to Pakistan that it cannot be “business as usual” between the neighbours.
What went wrong
On Monday also, a Brigadier-level meeting was held at the LoC, during which officers from both sides traded charges of violating truce agreements and killing each other’s soldiers.
Kashmir, which is ruled by India and Pakistan in parts, has been the bone of contention between the nuclear rivals for many decades now and has caused three wars between the two.
But in 2003, the two neighbours agreed to a ceasefire agreement which has largely held, but fatalities have been a rarity.
In 2004, the two countries also started a peace process to improve bilateral ties and have since made considerable progress, particularly in trade and commerce, except when the Mumbai attacks in 2009 caused a hiatus.
Last week, however, tempers ran high again as India accused Pakistani soldiers of crossing the LoC and killing two of its soldiers, “beheading one of them and mutilating the other”.
Pakistan denied the accusations saying its investigations revealed “no evidence that the Jan 8 incident had occurred”.
It instead blamed India of using “diversion tactics” to shift attention from a previous incident on Jan 6, when, Pakistani military said, Indian soldiers had crossed the LoC, raided a post and killed a soldier.
On Thursday last and yesterday, two Pakistani soldiers were killed in “unprovoked” firing by Indian troops, Pakistan’s military said.
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