Pak, India DGMOs talk on hotline to lower tension along LoC

Top military officials of Pakistan and India today spoke to each other on hotline to lower tension after the killing of five Indian soldiers along the Line of Control in Poonch sector in Jammu and Kashmir.

An official of Pakistan Army said that the two Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) established a “special hotline contact this morning” to discuss the situation “arising out of the recent Indian allegations on the LoC“.

“Pakistan army DGMO strongly and categorically rejected Indian allegations of violation by Pakistan troops and killing of five Indian soldiers at LoC in Poonch sector on 5-6 August night,” the official said.

He also said Pakistan has lodged a strong protest during hotline talk for “LoC violation by Indian troops in the Pandu sector today in which two Pakistan soldiers were seriously wounded.”

“It was reiterated by Pakistan Army Director General of Military Operations that Pakistan abides by the ceasefire agreement existing between the two countries,” said the official.

Five Indian soldiers were killed early Tuesday in an ambush along the LoC in Poonch sector.

An agreement to maintain ceasefire along the LoC was signed in 2003 but its violations have increased in recent months. Tension rose in January and February and again in July after a series of border incidents.

The latest incident involving the killings of Indian soldiers could cast a shadow on the resumption of the Indo-Pak dialogue process.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif are slated to meet in New York next month on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session.

The dialogue process was put on hold following the beheading of an Indian soldier and mutilation of another in an attack by Pakistani troops in the same sector in January.

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