At long last: India’s DGMO invited for rare rendezvous

Dec 24 meeting between Lt Gen Bhatia and Maj Gen Riaz aims to ensure ceasefire on LoC.

ISLAMABAD:

The first, long-awaited discussion between senior military officials from Pakistan and India will finally take place next week to devise a plan to prevent ceasefire violations at the Line of Control (LoC) in the disputed Himalayan territory of Kashmir.

Director General Military Operations (DGMO) Major General Amir Riaz invited his Indian counterpart Lieutenant General Vinod Bhatia for a meeting on December 24 to “strengthen the mechanisms to ensure ceasefire on the LoC,” reads a statement issued by the foreign ministry on Tuesday.

This is the first time that DGMOs from the two nuclear-armed neighbours will hold face-to-face talks. Although the talks are scheduled to take place in Pakistan, the exact venue has not yet been announced.

Earlier both countries had agreed to arrange a meeting of their DGMOs after talks between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session in New York in September.



However, the proposed meeting ran into difficulty after a disagreement over the mechanism under which the two DGMOs could meet, as there was no previous precedent of such contact between the two armies.

Sources familiar with the development disclosed that Pakistan was adamant that the meeting should take place in the presence of Foreign Office officials from both sides while India insisted otherwise.

The breakthrough was finally achieved as a result of ‘quiet diplomacy’ between the two countries over the past few weeks, sources added. The recent visit of Punjab Chief Minister Shabhaz Sharif along with PM’s special assistant on foreign affairs Tariq Fatemi to India was part of ‘quiet diplomacy’ to revive the process.

A military official also revealed that the two DGMOs had been in contact with each other over the past few weeks and as a result of which there was considerable de-escalation of tensions along the LoC. Tensions along the LoC flared first in January and then in August this year when India accused Pakistani troops of killing five of its soldiers in a cross-LoC ambush.



While Islamabad strongly denied the charge, the incident led to frequent skirmishes between the two armies. However, the situation started improving in late October when the two DGMOs spoke on hotline and agreed to abide by the 2003 ceasefire agreement.

The military official said Pakistan would attend the forthcoming talks with hopes that New Delhi would reciprocate Islamabad’s peace overtures.

A foreign ministry official also voiced his optimism that the DGMO talks would pave the way for the resumption of a stalled dialogue process with India.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said India had linked the restoration of composite dialogue with settlement of LoC tensions. “We hope talks between the DGMOs will lead to high-level contacts between the two countries,” the official added.

The US is thought to have played a key role from behind the scene in persuading India to remain engaged with Pakistan at a time when it is preparing to pull out of Afghanistan.

“It is an open secret that US is quietly pushing Pakistan and India for rapprochement,” commented international relations expert Dr Ishtiaq Ahmed, who is also a Jinnah Fellow at Oxford University.

The US believes any trouble between the two neighbours could jeopardise its plan for ensuring long-term peace and stability in Afghanistan. “That is why Americans are keen that both neighbors remain engaged even at a time when India is preparing for parliamentary polls,” Ishtiaq added.


Published in The Express Tribune, December 18^th, 2013.