Indian army chief’s claim of negotiating ceasefire from position of strength misleading: DG ISPR

Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Major General Babar Iftikhar has categorically rejected as misleading the Indian Chief of Army Staff’s claim that the ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) is holding because they negotiated from a “position of strength”.

The military spokesperson Friday said it was agreed only due to Pakistan’s concerns for the safety of the people of Kashmir living on both sides of the LoC.

The statement issued from the DG ISPR’s official Twitter account came in response to a comment by India’s top military commander who claimed the credit for maintaining almost a year-long ceasefire along the LOC.

“Ceasefire with Pakistan continues to hold as we negotiated from a position of strength,” Indian Army Chief General Manoj Mukhand Narvane had said on Thursday.

However, the Pakistani military spokesperson rejected the claim and said no side should misconstrue it as their strength or other’s weakness.

The director-generals of military operations of India and Pakistan, after reviewing the situation along the LOC and all other sectors, had agreed to re-enforce the ceasefire which went into effect from February 25, 2021.

The two DGs of military operations had made hotline contact in the interest of achieving “mutually beneficial and sustainable peace”, a statement by the ISPR had said.

It had said that they agreed to address each other’s core issues and concerns which have the propensity to disturb the peace and lead to violence.

Both sides had agreed for strict observance of all agreements, understandings and cease firing along the LOC and all other sectors.