IslamabadPakistan’s Defence Minister Khurram Dastgir Khan has said that India has not only wasted the opportunity for normalisation of ties with Islamabad but also restricted the space for peace through its “hostile” stance, according to a media report.
The defence minister made the comments yesterday while announcing a policy statement in the Senate, Dawn News reported.
“The unremittingly hostile, anti-Pakistan stance by the current Indian government has drastically reduced the space for any advocacy of peace,” he said.
Khan noted that the Indian government also “wasted the opportunity for making peace at a time when a political consensus existed within Pakistan for improving relations with India”.
“Pakistan’s perception of threat from India is not reflex; it is based upon a thorough assessment of Indian capacity to threaten Pakistan’s military from an unprecedented forward position,” he said and reminded that “the threat is calculated on capacity, not intent”.
The statement was made after Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman warned Pakistan amid an attack on a military camp in Sunjuwan in Kashmir that left six soldiers and a civilian dead.
The paper also reported an escalation in ceasefire violations along the Line of Control and the Working Boundary.
Violations of a 2003 ceasefire pacta key confidence building measure between India and Pakistan have seen a spike in 2017 compared 2015 and 2016, it said.
The pattern has continued this year and there have been more than 200 violations in the first six weeks of 2018, the report said.
Indian Firing Kills School Van Driver
Indian troops on Thursday targeted a school van in the Battal sector of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, killing the driver on the spot, Pakistani civil and officials said.
Following the incident, Pakistan Foreign Office Spokesperson Dr Mohammad Faisal summoned Indian Deputy High Commissioner JP Singh to condemn the “constant ceasefire violations by the Indian forces along the Line of Control.”
The Pakistan Armys media wing released pictures of the bullet-riddled van and condemned Indias unethical and unprofessional approach across the Line of Control (LoC).
The van was bringing back at least four students from Mandhol to their homes in the Dharamsal area, where it was targeted by Indian troops at about 1:30pm, Assistant Commissioner of Hajira Sikandar Hayat was quoted as saying by Pakistans Dawn daily.
Indian troops aimed at the vehicle with burst fire and as a result, the driver lost his life on the spot, Hayat said. He identified the victim as Mohammad Sarfraz.
The students sitting in the vehicle, however, miraculously escaped unhurt, Hayat said.
Mandhol is located on the right bank of River Poonch, while Dharamsal lies on the left bank. An Indian army post is just a stones throw away from this highly vulnerable village, according to Dawn.
These villages are part of the Battal sector in Hajira tehsil of Poonch district.
Condemning the incident, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor said that Indias unethical and unprofessional approach across the Line of Control (LoC) continues to terrorise civilians.
[Indian troops] targeted van carrying schoolchildren in Battal sector, in violation of Geneva Convention and the ceasefire understanding. Van driver embraced shahadat, he tweeted.
The heavily militarised dividing line is witnessing constant cross-border shelling in a serious breach of a truce agreement signed in November 2003 by the two armies. (Agencies)
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