Pakistan’s all time favourite game: ceasefire violations at LoC.

It seems violating the LoC ceasefire has become Pakistan’s all time favourite game. After a lull of nearly a week, the Pakistani army opened an unprovoked firing in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir on Monday.

According to the reports they used small arms and automatic weapons to target Indian Army positions in Mendhar sector of Poonch district in the broad daylight.

The prime ministers of both the countries are to meet in New York this year. The prospects of a successful outcome will surely be dampened by these regular violations.

The offices of both the PMs have been making constant effort to solve the issue. India wants Pakistan to come clean on the killings on LoC in January and August. It also wants to put curbs on anti-India statements by Hafiz Saeed, who it holds culpable for the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.

The need of the hour is movement towards confidence building measures which has been a failure till now. Pakistan has taken the stand that soldiers from both sides were killed in the alleged firing and that Indian soldiers too attacked the Pakistani soldiers. It has also raised its voice against the delayed release of 50 Pakistani citizens who have completed their respective terms in the Indian prisons.

Pakistan also offered UN probe in the killing of the five soldiers which India did not accept. And the 26/11 attacks has long been a matter of contention. The arrival of a Pakistani judicial commission to cross examine officials about 26/11 has, for the time being, addressed India’s disquiet about the pace at which Pakistan is probing the attacks.

The case continues to drag on after the last public prosecutor was shot dead. Unlike last time, the commission will be allowed to cross examine the investigating officer, the magistrate who recorded Kasab’s confession and the two doctors who conducted autopsies of the nine dead terrorists.

Publicly, Pakistan has been more outspoken than India on the prospect of a meeting between Dr. Manmohan Singh and Nawaz Sharif in New York. It has been maintaining that Mr. Sharif suggested that the two countries should talk and fight poverty instead of each other.

Now it is only for the time to tell what course the dialogue will take. For now it is to see what action India will take against the regular ceasefire violations from Pakistan.