Pakistan rejects Indian charges Hina suggests inquiry by third party
By our Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan strongly rejected the Indian allegation of an attack across the Line of Control (LoC) on its military patrol in which two Indian soldiers were claimed to have been killed. “These are baseless and unfounded allegations”, said the Foreign Office.
In a statement issued by the Foreign Office, it was maintained that Pakistan was prepared to hold investigations through the United Nations Military Observes Group for India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) on the recent ceasefire violations on the Line of Control. “Pakistan remains committed to the ceasefire agreement of 2003 which is an important Confidence Building Measure and should be respected in letter and spirit”, it said, adding, Pakistan also urged the need for abiding and strengthening existing military mechanisms to ensure that there was no recurrence of such violations in future.
The statement said that Pakistan was committed to a constructive, sustained and result-oriented process of engagement with India. “We have made significant progress in the dialogue process”, it said, adding, Pakistan had taken a number of steps to normalize and improve bilateral relations.
It further said that it was important that both sides made serious efforts in maintaining this improvement and avoiding negative propaganda.
The Indian army had claimed that firing by Pakistani troops near the heavily militarised Line of Control (LoC) had killed two Indian soldiers on Tuesday, with one’s head allegedly severed and taken away.
Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar has suggested referring the matter of firing incident between India and Pakistan on Line of Control (LoC) to the third party for inquiry.
The minister categorically denied Pakistan’s hand in the killings of two Indian soldiers, saying Pakistan is ready for a third party to probe and verify their claims if ‘India doesn’t believe in its inquiry’.
“We have ordered an independent investigation, but we are offering more, let a third party investigate the issue,” Khar said in a media interview, adding that Pakistan had completed its investigation in the matter.
She also suggested that since the supposed attack had happened on the Indian territory, the Indian agencies should investigate it first. She also questioned the Indian reaction to the incident and said it was not proper.
“Three days back, Lance Naik Aslam was brutally murdered because of Indian firing, 400 km inside Pakistani territory.
The DG (Military Operations) of Pakistan asked his counterpart in India for an explanation. You did not see any hostile reaction coming in from the foreign minister, as we believe that these things must be dealt in a responsible manner,” Khar said.
She said that she was appalled at some of the suggestions being made by the Indian politicians and spokespersons on Pakistan’s effort to derail the peace process.
“This is a government that I represent of the Pakistan Peoples Party that has invested four years of building normalcy an environment of trust, an environment of moving forward to achieve common objectives of regional peace and foster internal stability between the two countries, ” Khar maintained.
India summoned Pakistan’s high commissioner Wednesday after two of its soldiers were killed in a cross-border attack, the foreign ministry said.
“The Pakistan envoy has been summoned to meet with the Foreign Secretary (Ranjan Mathai),” ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin said after India accused Pakistani troops of mutilating the body of one of the soldiers Tuesday.
DGMO contacts Indian counterpart: Pakistan Army’s Director General Military Operations (DGMO) contacted with his Indian counterpart on Wednesday. Pakistan on Wednesday again denied an Indian claim that its troops killed two Indian soldiers in a cross-border attack, a military official said.
“Indian authorities were informed that Pakistan has carried out ground verification and checked and found nothing of this sort happened as being alleged by India,” the official told reporters in a text message.
