NEW DELHI: An angry India on Wednesday summoned Pakistani high commissioner Salman Bashir to the foreign office to lodge a strong protest over the killing and mutilation of Indian soldiers, even suggesting that the incident may force New Delhi to do a rethink on its re-engagement with Pakistan. Hours later, Pakistan reacted by accusing India of making "baseless and unfounded allegations".
With the Congress party too reacting strongly against the "barbaric act", the government seemed to recognize that the incident will "inevitably force'' India to draw conclusions about Pakistan's sincerity in carrying forward the bilateral engagement. As Pakistan remorselessly dismissed India's protest, the Indian position was endorsed by the US.
Highly-placed government sources told TOI the US had conveyed to India that Washington looked upon the incident as "a deliberate escalation of violence or reprisal". Sources said this had been "privately'' conveyed by the US to Indian authorities.
Sources here said the government was "perplexed" with Pakistan's aggression as the government in Islamabad has backed up its peace overtures with the claim that Pakistan army was on board. They recalled the discussion between the two sides only on December 27 last year in which Pakistan emphatically said that it remained committed to the ceasefire agreement of 2003, describing it as an important confidence building measure that needed to be respected in letter and spirit.
The unprovoked killing of Indian soldiers and brutalization of their bodies seems to have raised doubts about Pakistan's claim that its army was also invested in the peace process, and would make it difficult for the Manmohan Singh government to actively pursue his desire for peace, especially after the sharp political reaction to the gruesome provocation.
India desisted from expressing misgivings about the peace process against the backdrop of the outrage. Even as he insisted on the importance of ensuring that the situation did not escalate, foreign minister Salman Khurshid warned of an adverse impact on the ongoing peace process. Describing the incident as unacceptable, he said India was expecting "appropriate'' response from Pakistan over India's protest.
Khurshid said the Pakistani high commissioner had been spoken to in very strong terms. "We had discussions on 27th December on conventional CBMs like ceasefire 2003. Violations of that is a matter of great concern. And if that is not immediately contained, it would have an adverse impact on what we have been trying to do for such a long time," he said.
Foreign secretary Ranjan Mathai told Bashir that the "barbaric act'' needs to be investigated by Pakistani authorities immediately and the guilty brought to book.
Pakistan though strongly rejected the Indian allegation of an "attack across the LoC on its military patrol in which two Indian soldiers were claimed to have been killed''.
"Pakistan is prepared to hold investigations through the United Nations Military Observes Group for India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) on the recent ceasefire violations on the Line of Control,'' the Pakistani high commission said in a statement. Pakistan's offer is meaningless for India as it doesn't recognize UNMOGIP and had conveyed to the UN after the 1972 Shimla Agreement that it had no place in India.
Pakistan also talked about the need for "abiding and strengthening existing military mechanisms to ensure that there is no recurrence of such violations in future".
"Pakistan has taken a number of steps to normalize and improve bilateral relations. It is important that both sides make serious efforts in maintaining this improvement and avoid negative propaganda,'' the high commission statement said.
Khurshid insisted that India did not want an escalation in the situation. "Whatever has happened should not be escalated. We cannot and must not allow for an escalation of a very unwholesome event that has taken place," he said.
Pakistani army brutality may force India to rethink on peace
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Pakistani army brutality may force India to rethink on peace
