Pakistan blames India in letter to UN

Islamabad, Oct 12: Pakistan has sent a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and blamed India for the current escalations in violence along the disputed border which has resulted in casualties of civilians, the foreign ministry said Sunday.

Troops of both countries are engaged in shelling along the Line of Control (LoC) in the disputed Kashmir region, Xinhua reported.

Pakistan's Foreign Affairs Advisor Sartaj Aziz in the letter said persistent shelling and firing by Indian forces has resulted in heavy civilian casualties on the Pakistan side.

"During the period of Oct 1-10, 2014, 20 ceasefire violations along the LoC were reported, resulting in 12 civilian deaths, 52 injured civilians and nine injured military personnel on the Pakistani side," he said.

Aziz said that Pakistan has exercised utmost restraint and responsibility in responding to these provocations.

"The Government of Pakistan sincerely hopes that better sense would prevail on the Indian side to prevent the situation from spiralling out of control," the advisor said.

He said India has adopted a policy that runs counter to its stated desire of engaging in a serious bilateral dialogue with Pakistan.

He recalled India cancelled, unilaterally and without any plausible justification, the foreign secretary level talks that were scheduled to be held Aug 25.

Aziz said Pakistan remains committed to peaceful resolution of all issues between India and Pakistan, including the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir.

He said Pakistan believes that the UN has an important role to play in promoting this objective and so does the UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) on ground which needs to be strengthened and facilitated under the current circumstances.

IANS