New Delhi, May 10: Hours after India and Pakistan on Saturday reached an understanding on stopping military actions, the arrangement came under severe pressure with New Delhi blaming Islamabad of breaching it.
In a media briefing close to midnight, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri called upon Pakistan to take “appropriate steps” to address these violations and deal with the situation with “seriousness and responsibility”.
This came around five hours after the foreign secretary announced that India and Pakistan had reached an understanding to stop all firings and military actions on land, air and sea with immediate effect.
In a short announcement, Misri told the media at 6 pm that the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of the two countries agreed on the understanding during a call this afternoon.
The decision by India and Pakistan on stopping military actions was first made public by US President Donald Trump in a social media post, while claiming that the talks between the two sides were mediated by America.
Top government sources, however, clearly said the outcome was the result of direct engagement between Indian and Pakistani sides and that Islamabad agreed to it with “no pre conditions, no post conditions and no links to other issues”.
In the late night press conference, the foreign secretary said Pakistan violated the understanding and that the armed forces had been given instructions to deal strongly with any instances of repetition of the violations of the border along the International Border as well as the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir.
“For the last few hours, there have been repeated violations of the understanding arrived at earlier this evening between the Directors General of Military Operations of India and Pakistan,” he said.
“This is a breach of the understanding arrived at earlier today,” Misri said. “The armed forces are giving an adequate and appropriate response to these violations and we take very very serious note of these violations,” he added.
The armed forces are maintaining a strong vigil on the situation, the foreign secretary said.
“We call upon Pakistan to take appropriate steps to address these violations and deal with the situation with seriousness and responsibility,” he added.
“The armed forces are maintaining a strong vigil on the situation. They have been given instructions to deal strongly with any instances of repetition of the violations of the border along the International Border as well as the Line of Control,” he said. (PTI)
