No space for war, says Pak

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

Delhi, June 4

Five days after the sudden announcement to maintain ceasefire along the border in Jammu and Kashmir, India and Pakistan are back to accusing each other and firing across the contentious divide.

Islamabad on Monday reminded there was “no space” for war between “nuclear powers” even as officials of Pakistan Rangers and Border Security Force (BSF) conducted a flag meeting at the “octroi” post along the International Border.

In Rawalpindi, Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor Director General of the Inter-Services Public Relations, the media wing of the Pakistan armed forces, telecast his press conference live on Twitter. “We are two nuclear powers and there is no space for war,” he said, reminding about the nuclear arsenal.

The Arms Control Association, a US-based think-tank, cites the US State Department to claim that Pakistan has 140 nuclear warheads and India 130.

Since Sunday night, the Pakistan army has fired ammunition into India at two separate locations — Naushera and Akhnoor.

This comes just two days after the Pakistan Rangers fired at Pargwal, a small township in Akhnoor sector, near Jammu. Two BSF men were killed.

The weekly telephonic interaction between officials of the military operations of the two countries is scheduled for Tuesday where India is likely to raise several issues concerning the past five days.

On May 29, the two sides had agreed to maintain sanctity of the November 2003 agreed upon ceasefire.

In Rawalpindi, Maj Gen Ghafoor said: “The DGMO (Director General Military Operations) has given an undertaking to his Indian counterpart about respecting the ceasefire. The Pakistan army is committed to upholding it. But we will give a befitting response if the Indian Army hits our civilian population.”

The DG, ISPR, said Pakistan’s desire for peace should not be mistaken for weakness, and claimed that India had so far this year carried out 1,077 ceasefire violations. India’s Ministry of External Affairs, last month, listed out almost 1,100 ceasefire violations by Pakistan.