Skirmishes have erupted across the heavily militarised Line of Control (LoC), the de facto border in Kashmir, since five Indian soldiers were killed earlier this month in an ambush which India has blamed on the Pakistan army.
Pakistan has denied the claims and reminded New Delhi about the importance of resuming the peace dialogue between the two countries and protecting the touchy ties from negative media propaganda, a few weeks ago.
However, India responded with a clear indication that killing of five of its soldiers on the Line of Control would delay the secretary-level talks with Pakistan, asserting that dialogue could only proceed in an environment free of violence and terror.
Our restraint should not be taken for granted nor the capacity of our armed forces to protect the sanctity of the LoC, Indian Defence Minister A.K. Antony was quoted by AFP as saying in the parliament's upper house on Monday.
Now our army will take all possible steps sometimes strong action to effectively retaliate against every violation along the LoC, he added.
Islamabad has refuted involvement of its soldiers in the ambush, one of the deadliest in years targeting Indian troops in the disputed Muslim-majority region.
Kashmir has been a cause of conflict between India and Pakistan since 1947 when the departing British colonial power partitioned India and the Kashmir became a disputed territory between the two neighbors.
The renewed tensions have jeopardised plans for what the two governments hoped might be a breakthrough encounter between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif on the sidelines of a UN meeting in New York next month.
Antony alleged that Pakistani soldiers were behind as many as 82 ceasefire violations on the border this year and warned of consequences on the country's long-term relations with Islamabad.
1Naturally this incident will have consequences on our behaviour at the LoC and on our relationship with Pakistan,148 he said.
Similarly Pakistan Army claimed that India has made 186 ceasefire violations this year alone
On August 6 of this month, India lodged a diplomatic protest with Pakistan over an alleged attack on an army post in which five of its soldiers were killed.
The government of India has lodged a strong protest with the government of Pakistan through diplomatic channels, Antony had told lawmakers a day earlier.
The attack was carried out by 20 heavily-armed terrorists, along with persons in Pakistani army uniform, he had added, however later.
With a history of competing narratives against each other, India and Pakistan have fought three conventional wars. Despite sharing the similar culture, food and language, one of the most violent partition of India, administered by the British, left both countries bitterly pitched against each other.
There remain hundreds of thousands of families divided between the two countries.
In recent years though there have been hopes of good neighbourly relations and both these countries have mainly engaged in small-arms fire since the 2003 ceasefire agreement and refrained from heavy artillery battles.
However, with the recent skirmishes, the grim reality of mistrust between the two countries seems to have surfaced yet again.
No comments:
Post a Comment