KL NEWS NETWORK
SRINAGAR
A day after a soldier was killed in firing by Pakistani troops, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar Monday said the Indian Army was giving a befitting reply to such ceasefire violations.
“Ceasefire violations have taken place in hundreds for the last five-six years…Check out the figures. The only difference is that if they do it now, we give a befitting reply,” he said.
An Indian Army soldier was yesterday killed as cross-border violations continued along the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri district.
Parrikar had earlier equated the Indian Army to “Hanuman” and made a reference to the Ramayana in which the monkey God crossed an ocean in a single stride after he was reminded about his extraordinary powers by Jamwant.
Meanwhile, Foreign Office Spokesperson Nafees Zakria today said that India has made more than 90 ceasefire violations in 2016.
“During 2016, India violated ceasefire more than 90 times. This must stop,” he tweeted.
Nafees Zakaria claimed that Pakistan has “never violated the ceasefire agreement”, and that ceasefire violations have always been “misreported” by Indian media.
The FO spokesperson said India had been the main hurdle to maintaining regional peace, adding that the neighbour kept “vitiating the atmosphere through blame games, hostile statements and propaganda” in order to malign Pakistan and serve its domestic agenda.
“During the 2014 provincial assembly elections, India violated ceasefire agreement more than 200 times,” Zakaria said.
He added that almost 90 per cent reports of Indian media, in connection with the Line of Control (LoC), were “false”. “Almost 90pc news being run by Indian media is misleading, baseless and fake,” the spokesperson said.
Pakistan and Indian border troops last exchanged fire across LoC on Sunday in the Bhimber sector.
Earlier, the FO had claimed ceasefire violations by Indian troops were indicative of New Delhi’s “nervousness” following a “diplomatic offensive launched by Pakistan to expose human rights violations by Indian troops in Kashmir”.
