Pak asks India to halt firing, not to indulge in point-scoring

Making a veiled reference to its nuclear capability, Pakistan today sought immediate defusing of tension at the LoC saying "both countries are aware of each other's capabilities" and war was not an option.
The Pakistani statement came after a meeting of the National Security Committee chaired by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif which said its earnest desire for normalising bilateral relations and defusing the situation should not be taken as a sign of weakness.
Warning that any attempt to challenge its territorial integrity and sovereignty will be responded with full force, the meeting hoped that both countries would respect the ceasefire agreement of 2003 and maintain tranquility on the border.

Without using the word nuclear, the committee said both countries are aware of each other's capabilities and that war was not an option.
"It is the shared responsibility of the leadership of both countries to immediately defuse the situation," it said.
Briefing the media after the meeting, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said Pakistan would not accept Indian "hegemony" on the border and was prepared to give a "befitting" reply to violation of ceasefire.

"The Committee expressed the resolve that any attempt to challenge Pakistan's territorial integrity and sovereignty will be responded with full force," the statement said.
The meeting was attended among others by select cabinet members, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, the three services chiefs and ISI chief.

"The Armed Forces assured the National Security Committee that they are fully prepared to deal with any adversity at our borders," said the NSC, the key consultative forum for civilian and military leaders to discus security issues.
The meeting hoped that both countries would respect the "ceasefire agreement of 2003 and maintain tranquility on the LoC and the WB (working boundary), without indulging in blame-game and point-scoring."
India and Pakistan have been trading heavy mortar and gun fire along the international border and LoC since October 1.
While eight people died and 90 others, including 13 security men, were injured in the firing by Pakistani troops in Jammu and Kashmir, in Pakistan 13 civilians have been killed.