SRINAGAR: India and Pakistan have agreed to de-escalate tensions after the death of five soldiers in clashes at the Line of Control in Kashmir since last week threatened whatever progress the old foes achieved in recent years.
The move comes 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.
National television channels reported that a telephonic conversation between the Director Generals of Military Operations (DGMOs) of the two sides discussed ways to defuse growing friction between the two armies.
Tempers between the south Asian nations ran high after both accused each other of killing their soldiers by crossing over to each others territories across the LoC, which divides the disputed region between the two.
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, barring minor skirmishes.
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 today also, two Pakistani soldiers were killed in “unprovoked” firing by Indian troops, Pakistan’s military said.
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