MEA Spokesperson urges media to portray holistic version of incidents along LoC

Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin urged the media to portray the violations of ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) holistically, and said that the strained relations between the two countries is not an international issue anymore, but instead one between India and Pakistan.

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Akbaruddin was speaking to the media after making a presentation at Administrative Staff College of India here yesterday.

Akbaruddin said that ceasefire violations were common from both sides but the media is yet to report such events in the proper perspective.

"There is another side which is happening which you are not aware of and therefore you think nothing is happening. Do you think nothing is going to happen? Every time there is a ceasefire violation with our western neighbour, don't you know that there is a response and they complain ? Have a look at the last five days newspapers, and have a look at how many times our neighbours have said that you are firing at us. How come none of you is worried about that?" Akbaruddin said.

"This is not an international issue anymore. This is an issue between India and Pakistan, for sure but nobody in international fora is focused on this. That is enough of a success that nobody is raising this elsewhere for you," Akbaruddin added.

Akburuddin also pointed out that India and China were in the process of resolving the issue of their unsettled border.

The MEA spokesperson said the men on the front lines of the Indo-Pak border knew the holistic version of the events along the border.

On August 18, troops exchanged fire along the Kargil stretch, where the ceasefire has been 'on' since November 2003.

Tension between the two countries has been running high since August 6, this year, when Pakistani troops entered Poonch District of Jammu and Kashmir and ambushed six Indian soldiers.

Pakistan has reportedly violated the ceasefire several times since then.

Though Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh was slated to meet his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif in New York in the month of September, the multiple violations along the border have cast doubts over the talks going forward.