ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and India on Wednesday exchanged threats as tensions between the two neighbours flared in the aftermath of deadly clashes on the Line of Control (LoC) that left 13 people dead on the Pakistani side, including three troops, due to Indian shelling.

“We reserve the right to respond at the place and time of our choosing,” Director General Military Operations Maj Gen Sahir Shamshad Mirza told his Indian counterpart Lt Gen Ranbir Singh in an unscheduled hotline contact established on Pakistani DGMO’s call after Indian troops targeted a passenger bus in the Dhudnial sector, killing 10 civilians. Separa­tely, three Pakistani soldiers, including a captain, were killed while responding to Indian shelling in the Hot Spring sector.

“Discussing the single-point agenda, Pakistan Army DGMO demarched his Indian counterpart for the targeting of a civilian bus by Indian soldiers on the Pakistani side,” a military spokesman said of the conversation between the DGMOs.

Meanwhile, the Indian military said in a statement that their DGMO warned Pakistan against retaliating. It said the Pakistani DGMO was told that ceasefire violations or infiltration attempts from Pakistani territory would invite “appropriate response from the Indian Army”.

Casualties on the Pakistani side due to Indian shelling over the past couple of months rose to 52 after the latest incidents — 40 civilians and 12 soldiers. This is the highest casualty figure since the two sides agreed to a ceasefire in 2003.

Army Chief Gen Raheel Sharif, who is on a round of farewell visits to military formations ahead of his retirement next week, held a special meeting at the Corps Headquarters, Rawalpindi, to review the situation.

According to an Inter Ser­vices Public Relations press release, the army chief said that deliberate targeting of civilians was unacceptable and directed his troops to give “instant and effective respo­nse” to any future violations.

Indian diplomat summoned

Indian Deputy High Com­missioner J.P. Singh was also summoned to the Foreign Office over the attack on the bus. He was told that “deliberate targeting of civilian-populated areas, villages, the ambulances and the civilian transport is deplorable and below human dignity”.

Director General (South Asia & Saarc) Dr Mohammad Faisal told the Indian diplomat: “Belligerent targeting of the ambulance which was rescuing the affectees of the attack on the bus was a blatant violation of International Humanitarian Law.”

Published in Dawn, November 24th, 2016