‘Unceasing fire’: Singh ‘disappointed’ with Nawaz over LoC tensions

Says PM Nawaz and he agreed in their NY meeting to push for peace on the border.

Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on Friday said he was very disappointed with his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif for not living up to his New York commitment on reducing tensions along the Line of Control following an escalation in ceasefire violations.

Manmohan Singh was on his return flight from Beijing when he was asked of his stance on the recent violence along the LoC and the working boundary. He said, “I am disappointed because in the New York meeting there was a general agreement on both sides that peace and tranquility should be maintained on the border and Line of Control as well as on the international border and this has not happened.”

“It has come to me as a big disappointment. We had agreed at that meeting that if the ceasefire, made effective in 2003, has held ground for 10 years, it could be made to hold ground later also. The fact that this is not happening, is something which is really a matter of disappointment,” he added.



The Indian prime minister said he hoped “that at this late hour Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will recognise that this is a development which is not good for either of the two countries.”

The prime minister’s concerns come against the backdrop of heavy firing not only along the LoC but also along the IB and the loss of lives of security forces personnel from both sides of the border in the last one week and continuing ceasefire violations in the past three weeks even after the New York meeting.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 25^th, 2013.