A week after accusations and counter-accusations flew thick and fast over cross-LoC firing, the Indian Army and its Pakistan counterpart have reaffirmed their November 2003 ceasefire.The Army’s Director General (Military Operations) Lt Gen A.S. Bahia told The Indian Express on Friday that in the last phone conversation with his Pakistani counterpart, Maj Gen Mohammad Yusuf, on January 25, both expressed their satisfaction that the ‘‘issue has been resolved’’.While the first flag meeting on January 21 at the company commander level was held in Poonch sector after a protest was lodged by an Indian officer, the second took place at the commanding officer level on January 23 in Bimbhargali in Rajouri-Poonch sector, following Pakistan’s complaint of Indian firing on January 21.‘‘Both sides reaffirmed the ceasefire. There is no more firing now. The situation is back to normal. This was perhaps an aberration,’’ Bahia said, adding: ‘‘At the flag meetings, both sides spoke about the firing. In the Poonch meeting, the Pakistani side said they had also heard the firing but did not know where it had come from.’’While sectoral meetings between the two armies are part of a confidence-building measure (CBM) already under consideration at the political level, the Army is also looking at taking the initiative to organise meetings where formation commanders can talk to each other, and making flag meetings at the local commander level a regular feature along the LoC.‘‘These are only proposals right now. The possibility of such meetings is already being looked into by the Ministry of External Affairs, so we have to wait and watch. There is no fixed basis as of now for flag meetings. If there is a contentious issue, we fix a meeting. But now, the situation is back to normal,’’ the DGMO said. ‘‘Currently, the local commanders are there to assess the situation.’’Last week, the Army had called the two incidents of alleged mortar firing on January 18 and January 20 a contravention of the ceasefire the two countries had announced on November 25, 2003.
