Pakistan’s Foreign Office on Thursday summoned the Indian deputy high commissioner to lodge a protest over the latest unprovoked ceasefire violations by Indian troops along the Line of Control (LoC) in the Karela sector. The director general South Asia and SAARC, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, conveyed to the senior Indian diplomat Pakistan’s anguish over the violations along the LoC on 19th and 20th of October, resulting in the death of 28-year-old Abdul Rehman. 12 civilians, including children and women, were injured as the result of Indian firing. The diplomat was told that the Indian side must investigate the inciden,t and share findings with Pakistan and that India must instruct its troops to respect the ceasefire, in letter and spirit, refrain from intentionally targeting villages and maintain peace and stability along the LoC.
Later that day, Pakistani and Indian border troops again exchanged fire across the border in two separate incidents. No loss of life or property has been reported so far by the ISPR.
Meanwhile, the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs was informed on Thursday that Pakistan was following the policy of friendly neighbourhood with all the countries in the region. In the same spirit, Pakistan wishes to have resolution of all outstanding issues with India, including the Jammu and Kashmir dispute. In a working paper on Pakistan-India relations sent to the committee, the Foreign Office regretted that despite Pakistan’s positive overtures, the Indian government had not reciprocated and continued to ignore the Jammu and Kashmir dispute, with complete disrespect for the UN Security Council resolutions and its commitments under the international law.
While Pakistan continues to raise the issue of Indian atrocities in Kashmir and violations on the Line of Control, the role of media on the two sides of the border bears a stark difference. Whenever there is any incident in Kashmir or an Indian is killed in an exchange of fire between the two rivals, Indian media highlights the issue in every way possible, putting the blame on Pakistan. While in Pakistan, the reaction of media has been subdued due to lack of information and most of the times, the issue is reported as ordinary news. This has resulted in trivialisation of the issue of civilian deaths in the region. Pakistan should realise that media is an important platform to highlight these issues at international forums. These channels are the only sources for the international media to highlight the issues of the region. A recent example is the coverage of surgical strikes issue in Kashmir, which the international media covered by visiting the AJK region where India had claimed to have carried out a strike.
The role of media is important to highlight the plight of people living in those areas. Most of the time, the death of people is considered a mere statistic in the list of grievances against the other side, without realisation that it is an entire family that lives through the pain of losing an innocent loved one to a random act of cross-border firing. People in the region have been living in the shadows of violence for decades and have sacrificed thousands of lives, yet the leadership of the two countries are not willing to resolve the issue.
Pakistan continues to blame India for using different tactics to divert world’s attention from the issue of Kashmir. Yet Pakistan itself is not doing enough to bring India to the table by addressing their genuine concerns, which include terrorism. Peace in the region is only possible if Pakistan out rightly goes against terror groups without any discrimination, thus depriving India of any leverage to stall the talks on Kashmir issue. Until 1999, there was not a single instance when India did not sit on the table as equals with Pakistan to discuss matters. It is only after the 9/11 that India has started to pressurise Pakistan on the terrorism issue to get the upper hand. *
http://dailytimes.com.pk/editorial/22-Oct-16/cross-border-firing-at-loc
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