In ceasefire season, India & Pak promptly settle a little cross-fire

In a signal that both India and Pakistan are committed to the ceasefire on the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir, Director General ...

In a signal that both India and Pakistan are committed to the ceasefire on the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir, Director General of Military Operations on both sides got working to defuse a tense standoff in the Tangdhar sector after troops exchanged fire late Monday night. It was the first such incident after the border truce.

DGMOs Lt Gen B Thakkar and Pakistan Army’s Major General Ashraf Kyani were on the hotline the morning after an Indian jawan, at a post facing Lipa Valley in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK), opened fire thinking there was an attempt at infiltration. He apparently fired more than 10 rounds at Pakistani positions, inviting retaliatory fire.

Army officials in New Delhi insist it was the Pakistanis who first fired at the Indians. But sources said that the Indian jawan, peering through a thermal imager in the dark ‘‘caught’’ some men moving towards the Indian side. As a precautionary measure, he opened fire. But it transpired later that there had been no such Pakistani movement.

To ensure the ceasefire holds, the Indian side has suggested that the two armies explore the possibility of holding flag meetings at the level of divisional commanders at designated places along the LoC and International Border. This will do away with suspicion and tension stemming from incidents such as the one in Tangdhar.

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It’s learnt that Thakkar, when he spoke to Kyani, proposed two designated places each in the areas under the 15 Corps (north of Pir Panjal) and 16 Corps (south of it). The Pakistani response is awaited.

Defence Ministry officials said that the Army was looking at the Lipa Valley-Tangdhar, Uri-Chakoti, Rajouri-Mirpur and Suchetgarh-Sialkot axis to hold such flag meetings to contain any fall-out of inadvertent firing.

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