Asif says Pakistan not expecting improvement in ties with India

–Foreign minister says no breakthrough expected between both countries as long as Indian Army continues to violate LoC ceasefire 

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif on Thursday said that as long as the Indian Army continues to indulge in ceasefire violations along the Line of Control (LoC) and the Working Boundary, no improvement can be expected in the relations between Islamabad and New Delhi.

“India is violating ceasefire agreement time and again on the Line of Control and working boundary. In such circumstances, we are not expecting improvement in relations between the two countries,” Asif said in a tweet.

#India is violating ceasefire agreement time and again on the Line of Control and working boundary. In such circumstances, we are not expecting improvement in relations between the two countries.
~Foreign Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif pic.twitter.com/kFLgjB2aY6

— Govt of Pakistan (@pid_gov) March 15, 2018

The foreign minister’s statement comes just a day after a team of the United Nations Military Observers Mission for India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP), comprising of three members, got a first-hand experience of Indian atrocities along the Line of Control (LoC) in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).

Abbaspur police official Qazi Arslan, while talking to an English daily newspaper, said that the attack occurred when the UN observers reached Abbaspur sector in Poonch district at noon. He said the UN team had reached the area in two official white vehicles that also carried the symbolic blue UN flags.

“The UN team was gathering information from locals in Polas village about Indian ceasefire violations when Indian troops started firing from across the volatile border located one kilometre away from where the observers were present,” Arslan said.

In the aftermath of the incident, two locals, identified as Sardar Saghir and Muhammad Azam Qureshi, were left critically injured. The former belonged to Polas while the latter was from Taroti village.

Arslan said that the UN observers were lucky to have escaped the incident unscathed, adding that the team immediately left for Abbaspur to inquire about the condition of the critically injured men who were brought to the medical facility by the locals.

In May last year, two UN observers had a narrow escape in AJK’s Bhimber district, when their vehicle was allegedly targeted by Indian troops from across the LoC.

Ceasefire violations are a frequent feature along the LoC and Working Boundary despite the leadership of Pakistan Rangers and India’s Border Security Forces agreeing in November 2017 that the “spirit” of the 2003 Ceasefire Agreement must be revived to protect innocent lives.