Maj-Gen Shaukat Sultan, the Director-General of Inter-Services Public Relations, told Dawn that ceasefire announced by Pakistan was holding on and there was no report of any violation from any part.
The director-general hoped that the ceasefire would pave the way for durable peace between the two neighbours. However, he ruled out withdrawal of troops unless the outstanding disputes between the countries were resolved. “Withdrawal of troops from borders will be possible only after the resolution of outstanding disputes,” he said.
According to reports, five causalities were reported to the CMH in Muzaffarabad because of a toy-bomb explosion in a house near the Line of Control.
The ISPR chief said he was sure that there was no cross-border firing and added that he would have to check about the toy-bomb explosion.
Foreign office spokesman Masood Khan welcomed the support given by the international community to Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Jamali’s initiative and the concurrence of Pakistan and India to observe ceasefire.
He particularly referred to statements by the UN secretary-general, China, United States, Britain, France and Russia.
Talking to official media on Thursday, Mr Masood Khan hoped that this effort would be a harbinger of a sustained peace process. He said the next step in the peace overture would be talks in New Delhi on Dec 1-2 for restoring air links.
APP adds: He said Prime Minister Jamali in his address on Nov 23 had said that Pakistan favoured immediate resumption of air links between the two countries.
He said the prime minister had also expressed the hope that at the forthcoming Pakistan-India civil aviation talks, modalities for restarting air services between Lahore-Delhi, Karachi-Mumbai, and Karachi-Delhi would be finalized.
The spokesman also recalled that Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri, at his press conference on Nov 24, had underlined Pakistan’s offer of instant revival of air links between Pakistan and India.