India summons Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit, lodges protest over ceasefire violations

NEW DELHI: The Ministry of External Affairs on Sunday summoned Pakistani High Commissioner Abdul Basit to lodge protest over continuous ceasefire violations at International Border just seven days ahead of NSA talks on August 23-24.

MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup said: “MEA secretary East Anil Wadhwa had lodged a protest and conveyed our anger at the unprovoked firing by Pak troops since August 8. Particularly with regard to incidents of yesterday (Saturday) and today (Sunday) in Poonch that saw systematic targeting of our civilian population.”

“On several occasions issue of ceasefire violations has been raised at DGMO level. Assurances were also received from Pakistan military authorities that firing will stop and their troops would be instructed accordingly. But the firing have continued up until today (Sunday),” Swaroop noted.

Emerging from the meeting in South Block, a defiant Basit accused India of 70 ceasefire violations along the Line of Control (LoC) and International Border in the months of July and August and called for a more effective mechanism to determine who indulges in the unprovoked firing.

“We are concerned about ceasefire violations. In the months of July and August, there have been close to 70 ceasefire violations from this side of the LoC and the working boundary. We are obviously very concerned about it. Our side would like to have a more effective mechanism in place so as to determine who indulges in these unprovoked firing,” Basit, who was in the MEA for around 15 minutes, told reporters.