The Hindu : National : No violation of ceasefire, says Chief of the Army Staff

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Wednesday, Jul 20, 2005

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No violation of ceasefire, says Chief of the Army Staff

Special Correspondent

"Exchanging fire with infiltrators is no breach of agreement" "There was indeed firing from the Pakistani side but it came from terrorists"

NEW DELHI: While denying that its troops crossed the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir on Monday, the Army maintained that the brief war of words over firing from the other side and alleged abduction of a Pakistani civilian was a closed chapter.

Pakistan had accused Indian troops of violating the sanctity of the LoC and abducting one of its nationals, while India claimed there was firing from the other side.

Chief of the Army Staff J.J. Singh on Tuesday said there was indeed firing from the Pakistani side but it came from a group of infiltrating terrorists. A search of the area on the Indian side led to the arrest of a 48-year-old Pakistani. As there was no corroboration of his links with terrorists, he was repatriated as a goodwill gesture. Subsequently Indian troops chased a group of militants in the same area and killed two of them.

``There is no question of violation of the ceasefire agreement. This exchange of fire between infiltrating terrorists and the Army is not a violation of ceasefire agreement,'' he said.

Gen. Singh said such incidents had occurred a couple of times since the ceasefire agreement came into force in November 2003. ``When it was clarified that the firing had not come from Pakistani troops, we chose to respect the spirit of the agreement and did not fire at their posts.''

Another senior army official said Indian troops were fired upon twice from across the LoC in the Balnoi sector of Rajouri district on Monday afternoon. During the search of the area after the small arms firing had stopped, Pakistani national Faqir Hussain was apprehended. The same evening, the acting Director-General of Military Operations, J.S. Lidder, spoke to his Pakistani counterpart and expressed concern over the enhanced infiltration and terrorist activity across the LoC. They spoke again on Tuesday morning and it was decided to repatriate the Pakistani.

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