Pakistan urges India to cool rhetoric over Kashmir

NEW DELHI: Pakistan urged India on Thursday to tone down the "Pakistan bashing" over a spate of military clashes in Kashmir between the nuclear-armed neighbours, and again offered foreign minister-level talks to try to cool tensions.

“I think it is important not to let this cycle escalate into something which becomes even more ugly than it is today,” Pakistani High Commissioner to India Salman Bashir said in an interview with Reuters. “Let’s try to see if we can cool down and resume normal business.” Three Pakistani and two Indian soldiers have been killed this month in the worst outbreak of tit-for-tat violence in Kashmir since India and Pakistan agreed to a ceasefire along a de facto border there nearly a decade ago. India and Pakistan have fought three wars since partition in 1947, two of them over the Himalayan region that both claim. Following public and media outrage after India said one of its soldiers had been decapitated, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said there could be “no business as usual” with Pakistan, and the army chief said his commanders should retaliate if provoked. Bashir said India could have worked with Pakistan to get to the bottom of what happened instead of “stirring raw emotions and upping the rhetoric”, adding that “Pakistan bashing has become fashionable” in India. He told Reuters that the killing of the soldiers on the Indian side of the Line of Control (LoC) dividing Kashmir was not carried out by Pakistani troops. “Such heinous acts … are of course condemnable irrespective of where they happen and when they happen. But to say that these were done by Pakistan, that the Pakistan army was responsible, is something that we cannot agree to,” he said. MASS PROTEST India blames the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant group for that attack and says it enjoys official protection in Pakistan. Pakistan denies supporting the group. Indian officials have accused the LeT of stirring up the recent trouble on the border, a claim denied by its founder, Hafez Saeed. Bashir said the Pakistani army and government could not speculate on who might have been behind the attack. Pakistan’s government was plunged into a crisis this week by a Muslim cleric who led a mass protest in Islamabad to demand it resign. Bashir ruled out any link between the internal strife and the military skirmishes on the Kashmir border. He pointed to an offer made on Wednesday by Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar to her Indian counterpart for talks to ratchet down the tension. “Pakistan definitely desires de-escalation and definitely feels that the only way forward is through dialogue,” he said. Indian-Pakistani relations had improved after plummeting in 2008 when gunmen killed 166 people in Mumbai in a three-day rampage that India blamed on LeT. However, firing and small skirmishes are common along the internationally recognised 740-km (460-mile) LoC despite theceasefire that was agreed in 2003. Government officials on both sides have insisted over the past two days that the latest flare-up will not derail talks to improve relations, and experts say an escalation is unlikely. http://rtilive.pk/detail/9617 Right to Information Pakistan Live, RTI Live, Information Pakistan, RTI online Research ORganization,breaking news pakistan,current news about pakistan,current news from pakistan,current news of pakistan,current news on pakistan,current news pakistan,google news pakistan,hot news of pakistan,karachi pakistan news,latest news about pakistan,latest news from pakistan,latest news in pakistan,latest news of pakistan,latest news on pakistan,latest news pakistan,latest news pakistan urdu,latest pakistan news,live news pakistan,news about pakistan,news from pakistan,news in pakistan,news of pakistan,news on pakistan,news pakistan,news pakistan latest,pakistan current news,pakistan flood news,pakistan floods news,pakistan karachi news,pakistan latest news,pakistan latest news online,pakistan live news,pakistan new news,pakistan news,pakistan news channel,pakistan news lahore,pakistan news latest,pakistan news live,pakistan news online,pakistan news paper,pakistan news papers,pakistan news service,pakistan news today,pakistan news tv,pakistan news urdu,pakistan news english,pakistan news video,pakistan political news,pakistan top news,pakistan urdu news,pakistan english news,pakistan world news,todaynews of pakistan,rti news of pakistan,rtilive news of pakistan,top news of pakistan,urdu news pakistan,english news pakistan,urdu pakistan news,english pakistan news,world news pakistan,www pakistan urdu news,www pakistan english news,www rtilive pk news,yahoo pakistan news,action news,breaking news,business news, current news,daily news,e news,entertainment news,google news,headline news,india news,pakistan news,international news,it news,latest news,live news,lacal news,national news,new news,news,news channel,news channels,news entertainment,news for kids,news for today,news live,news of the day,news of the world,news of today,news of world,news paper,news papers,news today,news video,news weather,online news,recent news,science news,news the,today news,top news,weather news,world news,news yahoo,yahoo news,Law & justice in Pakistan, Court cases, constitutional cases, chief justice of Pakistan, Justice and court news, criminal cases, Supreme court cases in Pakistan, Judgments of Supreme Court,Pakistan bashing, military clashes in Kashmir, nuclear-armed neighbours, Pakistani High Commissioner to India Salman Bashir,Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Line of Control (LoC),