India, Pakistan agree to ensure ceasefire and strengthen existing mechanism

The meeting between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of India and Pakistan on the Pakistan side of the Wagah Border on Tuesday has been cordial, positive and constructive and both the sides have agreed to re-energize existing mechanism.

Lt. General Vinod Bhatia, DGMO who led a five-member delegation and met his counterpart Maj Gen Amir Riaz, DGMO, Pakistan Army, said: "We had a cordial, constructive and fruitful meeting. We discussed the ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC)."

"We both decided to ensure ceasefire and re-energize the existing mechanisms," he added.

Both sides have also agreed to hold two flag meetings between brigade commanders on the LoC in near future to ensure maintenance of peace and tranquility, claims joint statement.

Apart from the two DGMO's, a brigadier and three lieutenant colonels from each side were present at the meeting.

The two DGMOs usually talk on a hotline every Tuesday.

In September, Dr Manmohan Singh met Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in New York and the two leaders said they would ask their respective DGMO's to work towards restoring the ceasefire first called in 2003.

The year 2013 has seen the worst violations of that ceasefire. In January this year, two soldiers were killed and mutilated.Clashes flared along the 740-km Line of Control that divides Kashmir on August 6 when five Indian soldiers were ambushed and killed in the Poonch region.

In October, India said that Pakistani troops had helped a group of 30 to 40 insurgents stage the biggest incursion in Kashmir in years, linking it to a plan to push fighters into the region as foreign forces withdraw from neighbouring Afghanistan.

India has accused Pakistan of nearly 200 violations of the 2003 cease-fire agreement this year, a charge Pakistan has denied.