The hotline between Director Generals of Military Operations between Indian and Pakistani Generals activated at 10:30 a.m. on Monday at the request of the Pakistani DGMO. On May 2, a call had been requested by the Indian DGMO on the account of the death and mutilation of two Indian soldiers at the hands of the Pakistani Army. Monday’s call was requested by the Pakistani counterpart when firing by the Indian Army hit some villages on the Pakistani side of the LoC.
The recent exchanges of fire between the two nations are accounted to two main reasons. First, the Indian Army has been actively targeting Pakistani outposts which are in conflict with the earlier practice of retaliation to Pakistani firing. Second, the Indian Army had released footage of targeting of a Pakistani post which was retaliated by the Pakistani Army with a couple of footages of them targeting the Indian outposts. The to and fro retaliations seem to go on forever.
The Line of Control came into existence nearly 45 years ago after the Shimla Agreement. Before that, it was known as the Ceasefire Line which had been outlined when hostiles ceased fire after the 1948 Kashmir War. Both the nations presented maps of a new Line of Control. Each set of maps consisted of 27 sheets formed into 19 mosaics. Both countries agreed on one set of maps on August 29, 1972, in New Delhi. December 27, 1972, saw a mutually signed statement announcing the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir.
Up until the 1999 Kargil War, Pakistan never questioned the legitimacy of the Line of Control and even before the Kashmir unrest of 1989-90, there were infrequent clashes later resolved in flag meetings between both sides. However, the unrest caused the youth of Kashmir to move to the other side of the border for military training and militants began to cross the LoC.
The channels between the two nations seem shut now and the unrest in Kashmir adding fuel to the fire, the LoC would seemingly see a lot of firing from both sides and the chances of peace look remote. The situation is no different from the situation prior to the ceasefire in 2003, with no war but no peace either.
