JOIN USDirectorate General of Military Operations (DGMO) officials from both India and Pakistan on Tuesday discussed over the phone ways to defuse tension along the Line of Control (LoC) as well as the undisputed stretch of the border.
The development comes even as New Delhi ruled out the role of United Nations or any other third party in the settlement of India-Pakistan bilateral disputes.
New Delhi on Tuesday also said it was serious about holding talks with Islamabad on Kashmir and all other outstanding issues in an environment free from terror and violence.
With tension along the LoC and the undisputed stretch of the border simmering down, New Delhi once again invoked the Simla Agreement of 1972 and the Lahore Declaration of 1999, reminding Islamabad that the framework in the two documents was one within which India and Pakistan should seek to resolve all outstanding issues.
During Tuesday’s talks, Indian officials lodged a protest with their Pakistani counterparts over a series of recent truce violations by the neighbouring country’s armed forces.
“We are willing for serious dialogue in this (Simla Agreement and Lahore Declaration) framework, and this dialogue will cover all outstanding issues, including the issue of Jammu and Kashmir,” said Ministry of External Affairs official spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin. He, however, added that Pakistan’s recent actions indicated that it was “not interested” in dialogue with India.
Sartaj Aziz, national security and foreign affairs advisor to Pakistan Prime Minister M Nawaz Sharif, had written to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Saturday accusing India of deliberately flouting truce. He had also sought the international community’s intervention to resolve the “core issue” of Kashmir.
He also alleged that New Delhi had called off the August 25 Foreign Secretary level dialogue “unilaterally and without any plausible justification”.
“Sending a letter to the UN secretary-general is a well-known tactic of Pakistan. It has not worked before and it will not work now,” said Akbaruddin.