Pakistan is concerned about the continued violations of the ceasefire which was proposed by Islamabad and agreed to by the two nations in 2003, says General Kayani. PHOTO: REUTERS/FILE
Army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani finally broke his silence on sporadic skirmishes between Pakistani and Indian troops along the Line of Control (LoC) amid a flurry of allegations by the Indian military brass.
General Kayani – who will retire by the end of next month – said on Friday that the Indian allegations against Pakistan Army and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) were ‘unfortunate, unfounded and provocative’.
It is the first time Gen Kayani spoke publicly on tensions with India following the skirmishes between the two armies along the LoC in August, this year.
Speaking to a group of officers at the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi, Gen Kayani said the army was fully supportive of the peace process initiated by the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
“Pakistan Army is exercising restraint but the same should in no way be used as a pretext for levelling such baseless allegations that vitiate prospects of regional peace,” he was quoted as saying by the Inter-Services Public Relations.
Gen Kayani’s statement came days after Indian army chief Gen Bikram Singh said that Pakistani troops had helped 30 to 40 insurgents stage the biggest incursion in Indian Kashmir in years, linking it to a plan to push fighters into the region as foreign forces withdraw from Afghanistan.
“Pakistan was trying to push more fighters into Kashmir before winter sets in, ahead of the withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan,” Gen Singh told NDTV.
However, Gen Kayani strongly denied such assertions. He said Pakistan was concerned about the continued violations of the ceasefire which was proposed by Islamabad and agreed to by the two nations in 2003.
He went to say that rather than hurling such baseless accusations, India would be well advised to respond positively to Pakistan’s offer for holding a joint or impartial investigation into the LoC incidents, preferably by the United Nations.
It was not the first time Pakistan proposed a UN inquiry into the LoC violations. Islamabad’s previous offers for a third-party investigation were rejected by New Delhi.
During their recent meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, Premier Nawaz and his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh had directed their respective directors general of military operations to work out a new mechanism to prevent future ceasefire violations.
Despite their agreement, it was not clear when the senior military officials would meet. Prime Minister’s Adviser on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz hoped they would meet this month.
Fresh Indian shelling
Amid escalating tensions Indian troops fired a fresh salvo of mortars into Azad Kasmir on Friday, killing a child and wounding three other people.
“An 11-year-old boy was killed and three others, including two women, were wounded in the Indian shelling in Nakyal sector,” senior administration official Masoodur Rehman told AFP.
A senior police official in the area, Muhammad Amin, confirmed the incident.
Indian military officials, however, accused Pakistani troops of violating the ceasefire and claimed they responded to an infiltration attempt by militants from the Pakistani side of LoC.
Pakistan Army targeted several Indian army posts in Jammu and Kashmir, Indian television channels quoted military officials as saying. According to NDTV, heavy fire was reported in the Hamirpur, Mendhar and Barasingha sectors of Indian Kashmir.
But while Indian military officials said the ‘latest infiltration attempt’ was beaten back, the country’s media has been skeptical of its claims regarding infiltration by militants. According to earlier reports, the Indian army had been fighting off 30 to 40 militants it claimed were intruders from the Pakistani side of LoC.
A report by The Hindustan Times said that while the Indian army had claimed several dead bodies had been spotted in a ravine in the Shala Bhata region of Indian-administered Kashmir, the fact that no bodies were found and no arms were recovered suggests there is more to the encounter than meets the eye.
“Eight search teams comprising 150 soldiers conducted searches over six days but it appears that they (the militants) were able to take the bodies and material back,” the paper quoted Lt-Gen Gurmit Singh as saying.
Singh admitted he was under considerable pressure to produce the bodies which were reportedly sighted by his troops. Citing sources in the Indian army, the paper said no graves, bodies or weapons had been found.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 12th, 2013.
COMMENTS (29)
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@polpot: 1948, 1965 wars were a stalemate, although Pakistan gained territory in both those wars (Kashmir, Northern Areas). 1971 was a failure in Bangladesh, but on the Western front, Pakistan gained Indian territory which it returned in exchange for the release of its soldiers from the East. 1979-1989 was a clear victory for Pakistan against the Soviet Union and its Indian ally. Don't forget Kargil, Pakistan was on the verge of seizing Srinagar, but was forced to abandon it due to US pressure.
Know this that Pakistan is more than capable of defending its borders. Just like the failed Indian invasion of Lahore in 1971, each Pakistani will sacrifice his sweat, blood, and life to defend the homeland. Every male above the age of 14 became a soldier and fought in that war. The massacres of Muslims during Partition are ingrained in our minds, and we will never forget the sacrifices of our people.
best way is to hold a UN enquiry..things will be clear. why we oppose it?
@hasan: friend....yiur use of word..MY...does not filt the bill.have the guts to cimnent with real nane abd true nationality...what you said is correct.. but why say it with a faje identity?
@Bakhtiyar Ghazi Khan:
Don't like the allegations India is making? Easy way to stop it. Stop facilitating terri in India. India will stop accusing you. Other than that, there really is little Pakistan can do to stop India from telling the world what Pakistan is doing.
pakistanis are of arab blood and arabs always tell the truth............pak denied osama because ISI was not aware of his stay near the military complex............
Pakistan has yet to tell the truth publically about Kargil. Every one knows 1000s of Pakistani soldiers died in Kargil, yet Pakistan denied involvement of Pakistan Army in the attack.
Pakistan is again playing Kargil on the LOC.
Mullah Zaeef, a former Taliban ambassador to Afghanistan said this about Pakistan. “Pakistanis can get milk even from a bull. They have two tongues in one mouth, and two faces on one head so they can speak everybody's language; they use everybody, deceive everybody. They deceive the Arabs by using the name of Islam, they milk America in war against terrorism and they have been deceiving Pakistanis in the name of Kashmiris, but behind the curtain they have been betraying everyone”.
@zen.one.. India did Siachin…Pakistan did Kargil. Pakistan did Kashmir…India did Bangladesh. Partially agree, because kashmir and bangladesh cannot be compared. Kashmir is an internationally recognised dispute, or you can say unfinished business of partition, while as bangladesh, a.k.a. east pakistan never was a disputed territory between india and pakistan.
@Bakhtiyar Ghazi Khan: "We don’t need peace with such backstabbing snakes." +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Ghazi Saheb your appeal to the Army that lost all its wars against India seems pathetic. What more can I say?
So finally something angered kayani.
Good job, Gen. Kayani. I still do not understand why Pakistan allows such disgusting remarks against itself by the Indian government and army. Isn't it obvious that they don't want peace. What have they done in Afghanistan, but breed racism and ethnic violence between Afghans? They are trying to do the same between Baloch and Pukhtoons in Balochistan, but they have largely failed. They are a parasite. The Indian government and its major parties use fanatical Hindu mobs to pressure and intimidate Indian Muslims. We don't need peace with such backstabbing snakes.
General Saheb, it really does not pay any dividends to live in self denials ! Americans were stupid enough to believe you, in their WOT, however upon realising your duplicity and expenses fraud, they decided not to even consult you in their raid to capture or kill OBL ! That should show you, that your self-importance is diminishing very fast, as its obvious that Obama had no time even for Pak PM in his recent visit to NY.
Had the Pak military focused its potential on eliminating terrorism in Pakistan itself rather than wasting the same on its neighbour for several decades but achieving nothing, Pakistan would have become a peaceful country, resulting in giving a big boost to its own economy as well as providing a much needed relief to their countrymen who are being slaughtered like sheep by the terrorists.
@all: Both countries have '.skeletons in the cupboard' bursting at it seams. Trust begets trust, the 'holier-than-thou' attitude is not going to solve any problems for both countries. India did Siachin...Pakistan did Kargil. Pakistan did Kashmir...India did Bangladesh. This is a bit off-subject and out of context. Don’t consider this as a riposte or a rebuttal to any post/comment.This will help in any future discourse/dialogue with our Indian friends.
Here is an interesting link i came across few days back.
http://usindiamonitor.com/2012/07/08/eye-opener-an-indian-american-visits-pakistan/
@Separatist: We recongize that you are Arabs, not to fret,Bharata's troops showed mercy to these Scythian Sakas in 1971. No mercy will be shown again, you will have your freedom Inshallah.
@greatThinker: the person who calls himself a "greatThinker" doesn't deserve any worthy response. Keep living in your delusion fed by Hindutva right wing.
Did ISPR issue any releases on the peaceful Kargil initiative? ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ hmmmmmmm.
@Saad. How sad. Did your mullah tell that you?
Indian charges are provocative to Pakistan and Pakistani supported incursions are provocative to India. What shall we do ? You stop the incursions and India wont charge you. Did they charge u during the past 10 years when there was no incursions
Well i quite like his offer of neutral investigation.
Let Kayani first deal with shelling from Afghanistan, then worry about attacks on his troops inside Pakistan before worrying about India.
@Jim: Musharraf denied that. and asked India to provide proof of his conversation which as usual india failed to do so.
Let the record of constant export of "strategic" assets to India, Afghanistan - and rest of the world, speak for itself. Anger can't hide facts.
Just before retirement ?
General Kayani want to address the local people before retiring as was done earlier by american general before retiring while having allegations against Pakistan.
But his tone of the address is just to deny the allegations and not to speak harsh words which means he does not want to provoke the indian army which tells who has replied and who has got the hard message.
Why Pakistan is keen on any investigation on LOC incidents and why they not agree to the investigation after salala incident when American ask them to do any type of ivestigations.
History teach us that Pakistan is always the liar and always defeated - militarily, diplomatically and economically.
Pakistan should remember that Nawaz Sharif (nuclear power) during his earlier tenure goes towards Bill Clinton begging for peace on LOC to save his soldiers during kargil war.
Shabash India, keep it up. We will need your help so we can separate Balochistan from Pakistan.
Sir, whatever you say, but it is a fact that current our army has been caught most ill prepared, sleeping, often totally incompetent based on the numerous attacks on us. For 65 years, you have fooled us by creating proxy monsters, making India a false enemy and pocketing 60% of direct and indirect budget of poor taxpayer. You have eaten my share of pie, with my money bought junk outdated toys from china that even their army have rejected, and bought bunglows for yourself in foreign countries. What have I received for all your misadventures? Its time to make these establishment realize that we poor taxpayer pay for their salary and luxuries and bring them to justice.
So if India provided intercepts of conversations between your generals and jihadis about their involvement in terrorism (as it happened during Kargil b/w Gen. Musharraf and Gen. Aziz, Pakistan will call that too "baseless" and "provocative." As they say in Mumbai, tum log nahi sudharogay. Not even serial bombings, mass killings, genocide in your own backyard makes you realize that you are reaping 10 times more than what you are inflicting on India.
Kayani is right. Indians are cowards. Their military go to media and whine all the time. How about DGMOs of both armies contact each other and sort the issue out instead of bringing it out in public and cause further hostility.