Pakistan dismisses Indian army chief violation remarks as provocative

Pakistan rejected Thursday as provocative recent remarks by Indian army chief that Pakistan is involved in border violations and that India could not be expected to stick to rules if the neighbor was breaking them. Indian Army Chief General Bikram Singh said this week that " ceasefire violations" by Pakistan have been to aid infiltration of militants into Kashmir. Pakistan Foreign Ministry rejected the remarks and said it always wants to maintain peace on Line of Control (LoC), which divides the two countries in the disputed Kashmir region. "Provocative statements may worsen the situation,"Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tasnim Aslam said. She told weekly press briefing that in year 2013, military and civilian causalities were witnessed due to Indian unprovoked firing incidents on the Line of Control. She said progress has been made recently for improvement in the situation as a result of the recent meeting of the Director General Military Operations of the two countries. The meeting was held last month for the first time in 14 years. They had agreed to implement the 2003 ceasefire agreement. The two militaries exchanged harsh words two days after Pakistan military said that Indian firing injured a Pakistani civilian along the Line of Control. The incident took place after weeks of a lull in firing on the LoC in the disputed Kashmir region. Pakistan and India routinely accuse each other of launching deadly attacks on the other side and violating the 2003 ceasefire along the LoC. Guns had been relatively silent along the LoC since the ceasefire, however, the escalations along the LoC in recent months had caused tensions between the uneasy nuclear neighbors. Prime ministers of the two countries met in New York in September and had instructed their military officials to meet and discuss implementation of the ceasefire agreement.