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India, Pakistan hold talks on deadly border clashes

Kashmiris clash with Indian police during a protest against Indian rule in Srinagar on July 10, 2015. (Photo by AFP)

India and neighboring Pakistan have held talks aimed at settling months of deadly border clashes and repeated ceasefire violations.

On Wednesday, Pakistani Rangers’ chief Umar Farooq Bukri and India’s Border Security Force DK Pathak met in the Indian capital, New Delhi.

The talks are reportedly aimed at solving bilateral issues, such as repeated ceasefire violations along the border and infiltration attempts by militants from Pakistan.

“The talks will also endeavor to focus on positive issues like different levels of communication, more simultaneous coordinated patrolling and other confidence-building measures,” the Indian Border Security Force said in a statement.

Pakistan’s top security and foreign affairs adviser Sartaj Aziz voiced hope that the talks could reduce tensions and clashes, criticizing, however, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s stance towards Pakistan.

Pakistan Prime Minister Adviser on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz (AFP Photo)

 

Modi “contested elections on an anti-Pakistan platform and now wants to dictate terms for the dialogue with Pakistan but we will never accept this and we have already conveyed it to New Delhi,” he said.

Kashmir lies at the heart of nearly 68 years of hostility between India and Pakistan. Both neighbors claim the region in full, but have partial control over it.

In 2003, the two sides agreed to a ceasefire in Kashmir and launched a peace process the following year. Sporadic clashes have erupted since, with the two sides trading accusations of violating the ceasefire along their de-facto border dividing the disputed region.

India and Pakistan have fought three wars, with two being over Kashmir, since 1947. Thousands of people have lost their lives as a result of the unrest since the 1980s.


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