The Foreign Office on Saturday regretted the 'disappointing' response by Indian Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj to Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif's letter, urging the Indian side to deescalate tension on the Line of Control (LoC) and the Working Boundary by engaging at political level as well as other set mechanisms. Talking to Business Recorder, Foreign Office spokesperson Dr Mohammad Faisal said that the Indian External Affairs Minister has responded to an earlier letter by Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif in which he had sought intervention of political leadership to deescalate the tension on the border.
"But it was total disappointment to receive such a response based on the past allegations of militant infiltration," he said. "Our only desire was to avoid civilian losses causing due to the unprovoked Indian forces ceasefire violations, but the Indian attitude was noted with regrets that they don't care of the civilian casualties," he further regretted. Earlier, On November 20, 2017, the spokesperson added that the foreign minister addressed a letter to the Indian external affairs minister underlining the loss of precious lives which benefits neither side and is a threat to regional peace and tranquility.
Dr Faisal said that the foreign minister had urged his Indian counterpart to take extraordinary measures to avoid loss of human lives and deescalate tensions, through the intervention of political leadership to help augment existing arrangements, such as the DG MOs hotline contacts and border meetings, which do not seem to be working.
"The foreign minister's letter is a testament to Pakistan's desire to have a peaceful neighborhood which is essential for development of the people," he added.
On Friday, the spokesperson told his weekly media briefing that Pakistan has repeatedly raised its concerns about the hegemonic conduct of India, including the unprecedented escalation of ceasefire violations this year by Indian occupation forces on the Working Boundary and LoC in an attempt to deflect the attention of the international community from the continuing Indian atrocities against Kashmiris in IoK.
Rejecting the Indian side statistics on the ceasefire violations, he said that in 2017, more than 1,300 Indian ceasefire violations, the highest ever in the recent past, have resulted in the deaths of 52 and injuring 175 persons.
"We have consistently stressed that Indian aggression is a threat to regional peace and tranquility. India claims that Indian troops respond to Pakistani fire allegedly providing cover to infiltrators," he added.
Paradoxically, he pointed out when Pakistan stresses the need for UNMOGIP to be allowed to function with full freedom on the Indian side where its movement is very limited to monitor the ceasefire violations at the LoC and Working Boundary, in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions, India limits its movement and provides limited access. In order to ensure peace and tranquility at the LoC, the mandate of UNMOGIP is crucial, he added.
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