The Hindu : Guns fall silent along border

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Nov 27, 2003

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Guns fall silent along border

By Sandeep Dikshit

NEW DELHI NOV. 26. The guns fell silent along the entire western front with Pakistan today for the first time since the conflict in Siachen broke out about two decades ago. Indian and Pakistani soldiers celebrated the festival of Id by exchanging sweets at some border outposts instead of targeting each other with shells as they have been accustomed to do all along the Line of Control (LoC) and the Actual Ground Position Line (AGPL) in Jammu and Kashmir.

The last "artillery duel" was reported on Tuesday afternoon.

"No incident of firing was reported from anywhere along the International Border, the LoC and the AGPL since the ceasefire was ordered last night," an Army spokesperson said here today. "We will not take shots at chaps seen on the ridgeline or a moving Pakistan Army vehicle observed moving close to the LoC. They are also expected to do the same. But the Army will continue with its counter-insurgency operations.''

The Defence Minister, George Fernandes, who was electioneering in the Chhattisgarh capital, Raipur, said terrorists trying to cross the border would be challenged and engaged by the troops. There would be no let-up in the operations against terrorists, he said and drew attention to the "positive angle'' of the ceasefire initiative — that it could lead to a point where solutions were found to outstanding issues. PTI quoted him as saying that "looking at the run-up to the announcement made by the Pakistan Prime Minister, responded to by India, and certain other developments, there is reason to believe that this could take us to a point where we may be able to find solutions to problems that have been plaguing us for a long time.''

As regards anti-terrorist operations, Mr. Fernandes said the ceasefire was limited to the uniformed forces of Pakistan; non-state actors violating the sanctity of the border or indulging in violence in Jammu and Kashmir would not be shown any leniency. Asked about Pakistan's "unreliability" in the past, he said that "in relations between nations there comes a time when one does find a need to come to terms and resolve whatever problems that exist. And, therefore, for the two neighbours like India and Pakistan, when the Prime Minister [Atal Bihari Vajpayee] made a third offer, despite whatever may have happened in the interregnum, the latest response by the Pakistan Prime Minister shows a lot of hope. Therefore, one should not take it lightly and dismiss it.''

The LoC snakes upwards from the junction of the Chenab and the Munnawar Tawi rivers in the Jammu region to Point NJ 9842, a grid reference, after which the border is not delineated. However, in 1984 troops of the Kumaon regiment landed on the western face of the Siachen glacier which was north of Pt. 9842 and, therefore, in the unmarked portion of the imaginary border. This extension of the LoC beyond Pt. 9842 is called AGPL. Firing on the LoC has been a regular affair since the mid-Eighties. But the guns on the LoC fell silent from November 2000 to May 2001 following the extended Ramzan ceasefire or "non-initiation of combat operations" (NICO).

However, the AGPL remained lively even during this seven-month ceasefire. This is the first time that no shells are being fired across the AGPL since the dispute flared up two decades ago.

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