Jammu and Kashmir government has made a strong appeal for a meeting to be held between the Directors General of Military Operations of India and Pakistan to address the issue of repeated ceasefire violations along the International Border.
At a Unified Command Meeting today here attended by Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, members of the state government said that a DGMO-level Flag Meeting was needed to put an end to the ceasefire violations along the Line of Control (LoC) and the International Border in J-K.
The Director General of Military Operations of India today spoke to his Pakistan counterpart from New Delhi and is understood to have conveyed India's strong concerns over the ceasefire violations.
Shinde, who is on a tour of J-K to review the security situation in the state, discussed the ceasefire violations and the problems being caused by it for the border population of J-K at the high-level meeting in Jammu.
Omar, J-K Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand, Chief Secretary Mohd Iqbal Khanday and DGP Ashok Prasad were among those who attended the meeting.
People in the border areas were fleeing their villages due to the firing from across the border and unless steps were taken to immediately address the issue, more people would end up leaving, the meeting was told.
Omar had yesterday talked tough on the matter and asserted that India could not remain at the "receiving end" of repeated ceasefire violations and would "respond in kind" if it persisted.
"Obviously, this cannot be a one-sided affair. It cannot be a situation where we are at the receiving end and no response is given," he had said.
Centre should explore other options if Pakistan continues to violate ceasefire along the LoC, Omar had added.
"If they (Pakistan) violate the ceasefire, we won't respond through words only. We will have to find some other options. If our people living along the borders are being targeted, we also know how to respond in kind but so far we do not want to do it," Omar had said.
