AMN
India and Pakistan held Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) level talks on Monday.
The request for the unscheduled Hot Line interaction between the DGMOs of the two armies came from the Pakistani side.
Indian DGMO Lieutenant General A K Bhatt conveyed to his Pakistani counterpart that the support to terrorism by Pak Army is unacceptable.
He said Indian Army will continue to take all retaliatory measures as well as retain the right to punitively respond to such provocation acts of aggression from Pak side in future too. Lt. General A K Bhatt impressed upon the Pak DGMO that Indian Army will continue efforts to ensure peace and tranquility on the borders. He said, however, support to terrorists by Pak Army is the prime reason for any collateral damage.
Over the allegation of Pak DGMO that Indian security forces had resorted to unprovoked firing along the LoC, Lt. General Bhatt emphatically stated that retaliatory firing by Indian troops has been only in response to unabated support by Pak Army to terrorists.
He also clarified that Indian Army does not target civilians. He said, on the contrary Pak Army has employed civilians at the forward posts and accorded permission for permanent locations of civilians in the vicinity of Pak Army posts.
He said these civilians have repeatedly been used for gaining information of locations of Indian army and providing guides to the terrorists while crossing the LoC.