The Hindu : National : Flag meeting held to resolve tension on LoC

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Tuesday, Jan 25, 2005

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National

Flag meeting held to resolve tension on LoC

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JAN. 24 . Field commanders of the Indian and Pakistani armies held a flag-meeting on Sunday to resolve the friction in the Mendhar sub-sector on the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir that is threatening to puncture the ceasefire agreement in force since November 2003.

This area has been at the centre of allegations and counter-allegations by both the armies.

While India says that Pakistan has violated the ceasefire pact on two days this month by lobbing mortar shells on Indian Army posts, Pakistan alleges that India has violated the ceasefire once.

Since then both governments have not only downplayed the ceasefire violations but denied the involvement of their troops.

The flag-meeting mode was once used by both armies when there was an incident on the Line of Control in the Kashmir area.

This time round, the initiative was taken by the Directors-General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of both countries who felt this approach was the best to defusing tension.

"We maintain there has been no violation by Indian Army troops on January 21. However, two incidents of violation on their [Pakistan's] part had taken place, as a consequence of which a flag-meeting was held in the Mendhar sector of Poonch at the battalion commander level. We want to reiterate that no ceasefire violation has taken place from our side," said Deepak Sammanwar of the Army Headquarters.

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