ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has requested that observers from the United Nations be sent to investigate the cause of the border skirmishes with India.

Following a meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC) — which consists of the country’s top civil and military leadership — on Friday, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan told reporters: “We would request the UN to send its observers to the Line of Control (LoC) to ascertain from which side firing and shelling was first initiated.”

But, he said, India did not welcome the idea. “Calling for UN observers is evidence of our sincerity, but the Indian response to this idea has exposed their designs,” the minister said.

The NSC meeting was the first meeting of the top brass since border clashes with India began around Eidul Azha. The meeting reviewed the situation along the LoC and the Working Boundary following heavy shelling and firing by the Indian troops and vowed to defend the country’s territorial integrity and sovereignty with all the force they could muster.

Indian aggression part of a ‘greater strategy’, interior minister says after NSC meeting

Chaired by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and attended by all the three services chiefs, the meeting was told that Pakistan had retaliated in response to unprovoked Indian shelling. The interior minister said that 13 Pakistani civilians had been killed by Indian aggression along the international boundary.

Chaudhry Nisar said that building peaceful relations between the two countries was the best way to proceed.

According to an official handout issued by the Prime Minister’s Office, the committee noted with deep concern that the continuing ceasefire violations by Indian forces had led to loss of precious lives and injuries to innocent people, including “our fearless soldiers”.

“Sadly, the violations of ceasefire by Indian security forces occurred in total disregard of the auspicious and festive occasion of Eidul Azha,” the statement said.

The interior minister said: “Our peace-loving attitude should not be construed as a weakness. We are capable of averting any aggression and this we have demonstrated.”

He said that all foreign diplomats would soon be briefed by the Foreign Office on the issue, while representatives would be sent to the five permanent members of the UN Security Council to apprise them of Pakistan’s point of view on Kashmir and recent Indian aggression on the border.

Meetings between the directors general of military operations (DGMOs) from both sides had come to a halt following Indian aggression on the border, Chaudhry Nisar said, adding that it would be decided on Tuesday whether such meetings would continue or not.

He said the NSC was briefed on two fronts: Indian ceasefire violations along the LoC, and the ongoing military operation in North Waziristan.

“Indian forces have opened another front, at a time when the Pakistani government and security forces are focusing on a military operation against terrorists in North Waziristan and the rehabilitation of those displaced,” he said.

He said Islamabad would give peace another chance by continuing the dialogue process with New Delhi, but any future aggression would be met with force.

The minister also alluded to something bigger when he said, “We have credible information that all this is happening as part of a larger strategy,” but refused to elaborate.

The committee also offered condolences to the bereaved families of the 13 people killed and scores of others who were injured, while commending the “valiant jawans who bravely and duly responded to the aggression”.

It maintained that Pakistan had pursued a policy of peaceful relations with all its neighbours, as was evident from the initiation of peace talks between the two countries in the 1990s and, more recently, Prime Minister Sharif’s visit to the oath-taking ceremony of his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi.

However, the committee expressed disappointment over the lack of reciprocation of this spirit from the Indian side.

“The abrupt cancellation of foreign secretary-level talks by India and a refusal to resume the dialogue process are a setback to our efforts to establish good neighbourly relations. The present situation on the LoC and Working Boundary is a further blow to these efforts,” the handout said. These developments not only disappointed the people of Pakistan and India, but the international community too.

The committee also regretted the “irresponsible statements” made by political leaders in India with regards to the ongoing skirmishes.

“War is not an option. It is the shared responsibility of the leadership of both countries to immediately defuse the situation,” the statement from the PM’s Office said.

At the meeting, the chiefs of the armed forces assured the committee that they were fully prepared to “deal with any adversity at our borders”.

Published in Dawn, October 11th , 2014