Pak summons India's Dy High Commissioner over 'ceasefire violations'

Pakistan summoned India's Deputy High Commissioner Gaurav Ahluwalia

PAKISTAN-INDIA-KASHMIR-UNREST A Pakistani national flag flies on the Parliament building in Islamabad on August 15, 2019, as the country observes 'Black Day' on India's Independence Day | AFP

Pakistan on Thursday summoned India's Deputy High Commissioner Gaurav Ahluwalia to protest over the alleged ceasefire violations by Indian troops along the Line of Control (LoC) that killed three of its soldiers.

Director General (South Asia and SAARC) Mohammad Faisal, who is also the foreign ministry spokesperson, summoned Ahluwalia and "condemned the unprovoked ceasefire violations by the Indian forces on 15th August in Lipa and Battal Sectors," the Foreign Office said in a statement.

The firing killed three Pakistani soldiers, it said.

Faisal claimed the Indian forces along the LoC and Working boundary have "continuously been violating the 2003 ceasefire arrangement, which needs to be respected."

"The ceasefire violations by India are a threat to regional peace and security and may lead to a strategic miscalculation," he said.

Faisal urged the Indian side to instruct its forces to respect the ceasefire, in letter and spirit and maintain peace on the LoC and the Working Boundary.

He also urged the Indian side to permit United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) to play its mandated role as per the UN Security Council resolutions.

India has maintained that the UNMOGIP has outlived its utility and is irrelevant after the Simla Agreement and the consequent establishment of the LoC.