Pak waiting for Indian response on ceasefire understanding: Envoy

Pakistan on Friday said it was waiting for a response from India to formalise an understanding on ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) and the Actual Ground Position Line in Jammu and Kashmir in the form of an agreement.

In an interaction with mediapersons in Bengaluru on Friday, High Commissioner of Pakistan to India Abdul Basit said formalising the 2003 ceasefire agreement between the two neighbours could help foster a new peace initiative.

Basit said Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had touched upon a four-point peace initiative in the United Nations General Assembly recently, which included demilitarisation of Kashmir and unconditional withdrawal of forces from Siachen.

“We are waiting for a reply from New Delhi. The move will not only stabilise the situation along the LoC but also break the ice and improve the environment between the two countries. The proposal has been made in all sincerity,” said Basit.

Sharif had also sought third-party monitoring of ceasefire violations along the LoC. “We could ask the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan to monitor, but if India has a better proposal, we are ready to study it,” said Basit.

He did not give a direct answer to a query on former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf acknowledging that the country had supported and trained terror groups like the Lashkar-e-Toiba. “All militant outfits are banned in Pakistan. We do not allow our territory for terrorism anywhere in the world,” said Basit.

To a related question, he envoy said Pakistan was the worst victim of terrorism in the world. “We are suffering due to terrorism. It is a big issue to us. Since 9/11, we have lost 60,000 innocent lives to terrorism.

The World Bank estimates that we have suffered losses to the tune of $20 billion. There cannot be any other country in the world more eager than Pakistan to eradicate terrorism,” said the envoy.