Will the General walk the talk: Pak Army Chief wants peaceful resolution to Kashmir issue

New Delhi, Feb 03: Pakistan and India must resolve the Kashmir issue in a peaceful and dignified manner, Pakistan Army Chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa.

General Bajwa was addressing the graduation ceremony at the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) Asghar Khan Academy in Risalpur in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, according to the Army.

"Pakistan and India must resolve the longstanding issue of Jammu and Kashmir in a dignified and peaceful manner as per the aspirations of people of Jammu and Kashmir...," he said.

Pakistan is a peace-loving country that has rendered great sacrifices for regional and global peace, he said.

"We stand firmly committed to the ideal of mutual respect and peaceful co-existence. It is time to extend a hand of peace in all directions," he said.

"However, we will not allow anybody or any entity to misinterpret our desire for peace as a sign of weakness," Bajwa said.

The remarks are significant considering the heightened tensions between the two countries. General Bajwa said that Pakistan is a peace loving country and had rendered great sacrifices yes for regional and global peace. According to a statement by Pakistan's Inter-Service Public Relations (ISPR), Gen Bajwa said Pakistan will not allow anybody or any entity to misinterpret its "desire for peace as a sign of weakness".

Experts that OneIndia spoke with said that while the statements are welcome, one has to be on guard.

These statements should translate to tensions reducing at the border areas. The number of ceasefire violations and infiltration attempts along the Line of Control have increased over the past one year. We hope the General's statements translate into action, the official cited above also said.

In 2020, scores of terrorists from Pakistan attempted infiltration bids into India. However just 44 managed to infiltrate in 2020, when compared to the 141 in 2019, officials said.

Rattled by the anti-infiltration grid that blocked several key routes, Pakistan carried 5,100 ceasefire violation, which was the highest since the 2003 truce. "There are 300 to 415 terrorists in various launching pads in Pakistani Occupied Kashmir (PoK) along the LoC ready to infiltrate into Jammu and Kashmir to disturb peace and normalcy by engineering violence," an official said.

Intelligence Bureau officials tell OneIndia that the ISI continues to make attempts to help infiltrate the large number of terrorists. The IB officer also said that the Pakistan Rangers and the Border Action Team are trying to help the terrorists infiltrate into India. Last year there were an unprecedented number of ceasefire violations by Pakistan. The Pakistan Army had been providing cover fire in a bid to help the terrorists enter India. However, the infiltration attempts were largely foiled by the Indian security agencies.