ISLAMABAD, 25 January 2005 — Pakistan yesterday accused archrival India of violating a cease-fire at the heavily militarized border in disputed Kashmir but maintained that the 14-month truce between the nuclear-armed rivals was still in place.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Masood Khan said that senior military officials of the two sides were in “frequent contact,” and “both sides have renewed assurances that cease-fire would be observed by Pakistan and India.”
A cease-fire took effect in November 2003 and is a keystone in a still-fragile peace process aimed at resolving five decades of enmity between the two countries, which have fought three wars since 1947, two of them over Kashmir.
Last week, India accused Pakistani troops of firing twice across the Line of Control that divides the disputed Himalayan region, which Pakistan denied.
Khan alleged that on Friday small arms were fired from the Indian side of the line at the Mendnar sector between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. As in the other two incidents earlier reported by India, no one was reported hurt.
India quickly denied the tit-for-tat claim, which comes as the nuclear-armed neighbors try to kick-start a slow-moving process focused on the divided Himalayan territory.
India said the issue was raised by Pakistan’s director-general of military operations during regular talks with his Indian counterpart.
“We have investigated this allegation and found it to be baseless,” Navtej Sarna, India’s External Affairs Ministry spokesman, said in New Delhi.
Relations between the two governments have recently been strained by a dispute over a dam that India is building in the part of Kashmir under its control. Pakistan says the dam will block the flow of water to its territory, and last week formally appealed to the World Bank to help resolve the issue after bilateral talks broke down.
Khan expressed hope yesterday that a meeting between the prime ministers of the two countries on the sidelines of a summit of South Asian leaders in Bangladesh on Feb. 6-7 would boost the peace process.
Pakistan was hopeful that a “fresh endeavor would be made to keep the dialogue process on track and resolve the issues that need to be resolved,” Khan told a news conference.
Before the cease-fire, India and Pakistan would routinely exchange shell and mortar fire across the Line of Control. Tensions have eased over the past year, but the peace talks have made little substantive progress. The two countries remain poles apart over Kashmir, which is claimed by both in its entirety.
India accuses Pakistan of supporting militants, who are still fighting to win independence for Kashmir or its merger with Pakistan. Islamabad denies those allegations.
