ISLAMABAD : Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif on Thursday asserted thatIslamabad does not “expect” any improvement in relations with New Delhi aslong as the Indian army continues to violate the ceasefire agreement alongthe Line of Control (LoC) and the Working Boundary.
Asif’s statement comes a day after cross-border firing injured two localsin Azad Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district. Three members of a visitingUnited Nations Military Observers Mission for India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP),who had arrived to inspect the situation along the LoC barely escaped withtheir lives.
The UN officials were in the Polas village, hardly a kilometre away fromthe dividing line, when the cross-border firing began. The officials, whohad been speaking to residents about the situation along the border, were“in a state of shock” after the unexpected incident, police said.
“India is violating the ceasefire agreement time and again on the Line ofControl and Working Boundary,” Radio Pakistan quoted Asif as saying. “Insuch circumstances, we are not expecting improvement in relations betweenthe two countries,” the foreign minister told a private news channel.
In May last year, two UN observers had a narrow escape in AJK’s Bhimberdistrict, when their vehicle was allegedly targeted by Indian troops fromacross the LoC.
Ceasefire violations are a frequent feature along the LoC and WorkingBoundary despite the leadership of Pakistan Rangers and India’s BorderSecurity Forces agreeing in November 2017 that the “spirit” of the 2003Ceasefire Agreement must be revived to protect innocent lives.
Last month, the foreign office had claimed that Indian forces had committedmore than 190 ceasefire violations since the start of 2018, killing 13civilians and injuring 65 others through the use of heavy mortars andautomatic weapons. – Agencies