Pakistan refuses flag meeting after ceasefire violation

Pakistan has refused an Indian Army request for a flag meeting  following last month's ceasefire violation in Uri sector of the Line of Control  (LOC) in Kashmir, a senior army officer said here Tuesday.

Speaking to the media in north Kashmir's Baramulla town, Major General Bipin Rawat, general  officer commanding (GOC) of the 19 Mountain Division said: "Pakistani authorities have refused our request for a flag meeting after their troops violated the ceasefire in  Uri sector last month.

"They even denied  having violated the ceasefire. Yesterday (Monday) also, Pakistan rangers violated the ceasefire in the Uri sector."

Rawat said the ceasefire violations were meant to assist infiltration from the Pakistani side.
"They want to infiltrate as many terrorists as possible into our side before the snowfall although some snowfall has already occurred along the LOC," the GOC said.

Three civilians were killed when Pakistan Rangers fired mortar shells at Churunda village near the LOC in Uri sector on October 16.

People living  along the LOC and the international border in Jammu and Kashmir have been  bearing the brunt of cross-border firing between Indian and Pakistan armies  since 1947.

The bilateral ceasefire between the two countries, which was announced in November 2003, has come as a great  relief for the border area residents as they have been able to grow crops and  carry on their routine activities thanks to the guns falling silent.

Thus, the ceasefire is seen as a huge CBM towards improving relations between the two South Asian nuclear-armed neighbours.