The Director General Military Operations (DGMO) of Pakistan Army has advised his Indian counterpart that instead of ‘blame game’, his country’s security forces needed to ‘look inwards’ against the false pretext of alleged border infiltration.
The message was conveyed during a hotline contact established between the two DGMOs on Saturday, according to a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR). During the conversation, the DGMO emphasised that durable peace along the Line of Control (LoC) and the Working Boundary (WB) was ‘contingent upon practical manifestation of existing understandings by Indian troops on ground’.
Discussing the continuing surge in ceasefire violations by the Indian army along the LoC and WB, he also highlighted deliberate targeting of innocent civilians residing along the border on false pretext of reaction against alleged cross-border infiltration. At least 219 innocent civilians including 112 women and children have been killed and injured due to ceasefire violations by the Indian troops this year alone.
The DGMO said that such unprofessional and unethical acts are not only provocative and detrimental to peace but vitiate the situation along the LoC and also contribute towards further escalation.
The contact was made two days after Pakistan confirmed that it would be taking part in joint military exercises with India and other regional countries under the banner of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).
This is for the first time that Pakistani and Indian troops would take part in any joint military drills scheduled to be held in Russia in August this year.
Published in Daily Times, April 29th 2018.
