Pakistan, India DGMOs make hotline contact after ceasefire violations along LoC

ISLAMABAD/NEW DELHI: Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of Pakistan and India had an exchange over the hotline on Monday with regard to ceasefire violations after Indian troops violated the ceasefire agreement along the Line of Control (LoC).

During the talks, Pakistan’s Director General of Military Operations Major General Sahir Shamshad Mirza raised the issue of Indian troops targeting their Pakistani counterparts, resulting in the death of four Pakistani soldiers in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

The Indian Army’s Director General of Military Operations (DGMO), Lt. Gen. A.K. Bhatt, claimed that all cease-fire violations (CFVs) were initiated by Pakistan.

He referred the Indian firing on Pakistan borders as ‘retaliation’, reported the Indian media.

The last DGMO-level talks took place on June 5, 2017 in which Pakistani had lodged a protest over killing of some civilians on their side by Indian Army’s firing.

Before this, the DGMOs held talks on May 2, a day after alleged killing of two Indian soldiers which the neighboring country claimed was done by Pakistan.

Given the strained bilateral relations between Pakistan and India owing to contentious issues, including held Kashmir, the ceasefire violations by Indian troops have become order of the day as they continue to target civilian population on this side of the LoC.

Tension between Pakistan and India has been high since July 2016, when Indian forces killed a young Kashmiri fighter in India-held Kashmir, prompting months of protests and a security crackdown that has claimed several lives.

Both countries claim Kashmir but administer separate parts, divided by a de facto border. Since independence from the British in 1947, they have fought two of their three wars over the territory.

Tension ratcheted further in September last year, when 18 Indian soldiers were killed at an army base in India-administered Kashmir, in an attack Delhi blamed on Pakistan-based militants. However, Pakistan denied that it was involved in that attack.

Several days later, India claimed it had carried out ‘surgical strikes’ on militant bases across the border, a claim Pakistan dismissed as ‘an illusion’.