'Hot Line' interaction: India, Pak DGMOs speak over ceasefire violations
India-Pak DGMO speak to each other
In an unscheduled "Hot Line interaction" requested by Pakistan, Indian DGMO Lt Gen AK Bhatt spoke to his counterpart at 2 pm today
Pakistan's General of Military Operations (DGMO) spoke to his Indian counterpart today afternoon on request from Pakistan government, reports said.
In an unscheduled "Hot Line interaction" requested by Pakistan, Indian DGMO Lt Gen AK Bhatt spoke to his counterpart at 2 pm today.
During the phone call, Pak DGMO alleged that Indian security forces had resorted to unprovoked firing along the Line of Control.
Lt Gen Bhatt said, "Indian troops had resorted to retaliatory fire in response to unabated support given by the Pak Army to armed terrorists who infiltrate across the border and target Indian Army posts."
During the conversation with the Pak DGMO, Bhatt clarified that Indian Army maintains "does not target civilians".
"On the contrary, Pak Army has employed civilians at forward posts and accorded permission for permanent locations of civilians in the vicinity of Pak Army posts," India's DGMO informed Pakistan.
"These civilians have repeatedly beenused for gaining information of our locations and providing guides to terrorists while crossing the LoC," Bhatt said.
Pakistan troops opened fire on several occasions along the Line of Control(LoC) in J&K's Poonch and other areasthis month.
There has been heavy loss of life and property in recent months because of the increased cross-border shelling. On October 12th, one soldier and one civilian were killed in the firing.
As compared to a total of 228 ceasefire violations along the Line of Control in 2016, there were a staggering 503 such ceasefire violations till October 3 this year, according to an Indian government report.