NEW DELHI, Feb 27: After committing more than 5,000 ceasefire violations last year, the Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan has left the entire onus of maintain peace along the Line of Control on India and without forgetting to play the bugle of “right of self-determination of the people of Kashmir.”
Khan on Saturday welcomed the ceasefire agreement reached between the two countries but said the onus of creating an “enabling environment” for further progress in bilateral relations rests with New Delhi.
In his first comments since ceasefire agreement reached at the military level talks on Thursday, Khan said Pakistan remained ready to move forward to resolve “all outstanding issues” with India through dialogue.
The militaries of the two countries had announced on Thursday that they have agreed to strictly observe all agreements on the ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) and other sectors.
Khan’s comments holding India responsible for maintaining peace on the borders come in the wake of the government of India having recorded 5,133 instances of ceasefire violations along the Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan last year, which resulted in 46 fatalities. This information was given to Parliament earlier this month by the defence minister Rajnath Singh who said this year in the month of January itself there were 299 violations and causing one fatality. “Appropriate retaliation to the ceasefire violations, as required, has been carried out by the security forces,” Defence Minister had told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply.
“I welcome restoration of the ceasefire along the LOC. The onus of creating an enabling environment for further progress rests with India. India must take necessary steps to meet the long-standing demand & right of the Kashmiri people to self-determination according to UNSC resolutions,” Khan tweeted.
“We have always stood for peace & remain ready to move forward to resolve all outstanding issues through dialogue,” Khan said in a series of tweets.
In a series of tweets marking the second anniversary of Pakistan’s retaliatory air strikes after the Indian Air Force (IAF) targeted a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror training camp at Balakot in 2019, Khan said that Pakistan have always stood for peace and remain ready to move forward to resolve all outstanding issues through dialogue.
He said Pakistan also demonstrated to the world its “responsible behaviour” by returning the captured Indian pilot.
IAF warplanes hit a JeM terror training camp in Balakot on February 26, 2019 to avenge killing of 40 CRPF personnel in the Pulwama terror attack. Pakistan Air Force retaliated the next day but the IAF foiled the attack.
On the Kashmir issue, Khan said, “India must take necessary steps to meet the long-standing demand and right of the Kashmiri people to self-determination according to UN Security Council resolutions.”
India has told Pakistan that it has no locus standi to comment on internal affairs of India, asserting that the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh have been and will remain an integral part of the country.
New Delhi has been maintaining its stand that “talks and terror” cannot go together as it continues to ask Islamabad to take demonstrable steps against terror groups responsible for launching various attacks on India.
Ties between India and Pakistan nosedived after a terror attack on the Pathankot Air Force base in 2016 by terror groups based in the neighbouring country. Subsequent attacks, including one on Indian Army camp in Uri, further deteriorated the relationship.
The relationship dipped further after India’s war planes pounded a JeM terrorist training camp deep inside Pakistan on February 26, 2019 in response to the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF jawans were killed.
The relations deteriorated once again after India in August 2019 announced withdrawing special powers of Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcation of the State into two union territories.
(Manas Dasgupta)