Ceasefire violation?: Amidst furore, Pakistan proposes UN-led probe
New Delhi summons Pakistan’s high commissioner to lodge strong protest.
“We cannot and must not allow for an escalation of a very unwholesome event that has taken place,” says Khurshid.
NEW DELHI/ISLAMABAD:
Pakistan proposed on Wednesday a UN investigation into recent ceasefire violations along its heavily militarised de facto border with India as New Delhi protested the “killing of two of its soldiers” by Pakistani troops.
The move was prompted by India’s allegations that Pakistani troops crossed the Line of Control (LoC), triggering a gunfight which killed two soldiers – one of them, according to Indian authorities, was beheaded.
Islamabad strongly denied the charge.
“These allegations are baseless and unfounded,” said a Foreign Office statement. Pakistan is prepared to investigate the matter through the UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP), which monitors the ceasefire from both sides of the LoC, it added.
It also called for strengthening existing military mechanisms to ensure there is no recurrence of such violations in the future. Pakistan is committed to a constructive, sustained and result-oriented engagement process with India.
“Pakistan has taken a number of steps to normalise and improve bilateral relations [with India]. It is important that both sides make serious efforts to maintain this improvement and avoid negative propaganda,” read the statement.
Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, meanwhile, said that her country was “a bit appalled” at some of the statements from Indian side.
“I represent a government that has invested four years to build an environment of trust [with India] in order to move towards regional peace and internal stability,” she told India’s CNN-IBN news channel.
Commanders discuss escalation
In Islamabad, a senior military official told The Express Tribune that military commanders from both sides discussed the sudden escalation in hostilities across the LoC on Wednesday.
“We have offered a third-party investigation but India does not appear to be willing for that,” said the official requesting anonymity because he was not authorised to speak publicly on the matter.
He said Pakistani officials informed their Indian counterparts that an investigation by Pakistani authorities found nothing to support their allegations.
The hostilities started on Sunday when Indian forces allegedly raided a Pakistani outpost in Haji Pir Sector in Azad Kashmir, killing one soldier and injuring another. Islamabad protested the incident at the diplomatic level. Tension flared two days later after India made similar allegations.
India lodges formal protest
Earlier in the day, Pakistan’s high commissioner was summoned to India’s foreign ministry to register a “strong protest” over the deaths of Indian soldiers in the alleged raid by Pakistani forces. “The soldiers’ bodies have been subjected to barbaric and inhuman mutilation in contravention of all norms of international conduct,” said an Indian foreign ministry statement.
Mixed political reaction
Despite the furore, Indian foreign minister sought to tone down the rhetoric. “We cannot and must not allow for an escalation of a very unwholesome event that has taken place,” Salman Khurshid told reporters in New Delhi.
Unlike the past, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) also adopted a pragmatic approach and called for an investigation. BJP leader Arun Jaitley asked the government to place all facts before the international community.
“It is now incumbent on the government of India, since Pakistan continues to be in denial, to collect the evidence, place them before the international community so that Pakistan can be named and shamed … for this brutal attack,” Jaitley said.
However, the Hindu hard-line Shiv Sena party called for an armed conflict to retaliate the raid: suggesting there are now more stakeholders in the political spectrum for peace with Pakistan than ever before.
(Read: Border skirmishes)
Published in The Express Tribune, January 10th, 2013.
Pakistan proposed on Wednesday a UN investigation into recent ceasefire violations along its heavily militarised de facto border with India as New Delhi protested the “killing of two of its soldiers” by Pakistani troops.
The move was prompted by India’s allegations that Pakistani troops crossed the Line of Control (LoC), triggering a gunfight which killed two soldiers – one of them, according to Indian authorities, was beheaded.
Islamabad strongly denied the charge.
“These allegations are baseless and unfounded,” said a Foreign Office statement. Pakistan is prepared to investigate the matter through the UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP), which monitors the ceasefire from both sides of the LoC, it added.
It also called for strengthening existing military mechanisms to ensure there is no recurrence of such violations in the future. Pakistan is committed to a constructive, sustained and result-oriented engagement process with India.
“Pakistan has taken a number of steps to normalise and improve bilateral relations [with India]. It is important that both sides make serious efforts to maintain this improvement and avoid negative propaganda,” read the statement.
Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, meanwhile, said that her country was “a bit appalled” at some of the statements from Indian side.
“I represent a government that has invested four years to build an environment of trust [with India] in order to move towards regional peace and internal stability,” she told India’s CNN-IBN news channel.
Commanders discuss escalation
In Islamabad, a senior military official told The Express Tribune that military commanders from both sides discussed the sudden escalation in hostilities across the LoC on Wednesday.
“We have offered a third-party investigation but India does not appear to be willing for that,” said the official requesting anonymity because he was not authorised to speak publicly on the matter.
He said Pakistani officials informed their Indian counterparts that an investigation by Pakistani authorities found nothing to support their allegations.
The hostilities started on Sunday when Indian forces allegedly raided a Pakistani outpost in Haji Pir Sector in Azad Kashmir, killing one soldier and injuring another. Islamabad protested the incident at the diplomatic level. Tension flared two days later after India made similar allegations.
India lodges formal protest
Earlier in the day, Pakistan’s high commissioner was summoned to India’s foreign ministry to register a “strong protest” over the deaths of Indian soldiers in the alleged raid by Pakistani forces. “The soldiers’ bodies have been subjected to barbaric and inhuman mutilation in contravention of all norms of international conduct,” said an Indian foreign ministry statement.
Mixed political reaction
Despite the furore, Indian foreign minister sought to tone down the rhetoric. “We cannot and must not allow for an escalation of a very unwholesome event that has taken place,” Salman Khurshid told reporters in New Delhi.
Unlike the past, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) also adopted a pragmatic approach and called for an investigation. BJP leader Arun Jaitley asked the government to place all facts before the international community.
“It is now incumbent on the government of India, since Pakistan continues to be in denial, to collect the evidence, place them before the international community so that Pakistan can be named and shamed … for this brutal attack,” Jaitley said.
However, the Hindu hard-line Shiv Sena party called for an armed conflict to retaliate the raid: suggesting there are now more stakeholders in the political spectrum for peace with Pakistan than ever before.
(Read: Border skirmishes)
Published in The Express Tribune, January 10th, 2013.