Zee Media Bureau
Islamabad: Expressing grief over the recent killings of five Indian soldiers at the LoC and `loss of precious human lives` , Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said on Thursday that it was important for both the countries to take effective steps to restore ceasefire at LoC.
Sharif also said that he would discuss steps to further build trust when he meets his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh in New York next month. He was chairing a meeting at the Foreign Office to review tensions in the wake of the killing of Indian soldiers.
He further said it is "incumbent upon the leadership of both sides not to allow the situation to drift and to take steps to improve the atmosphere by engaging constructively with a view to building trust and confidence".
However, a statement issued by the Foreign Office made no reference to Tuesday`s incident in which Indian soldiers were killed by "specialist troops" of the Pakistan Army.
Relations between the two sides soured this week after the killing of the five Indian soldiers. Indian Defence Minister A K Antony said in parliament today "specialist troops of the Pakistan Army were involved in the attack" and a "group from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir side crossed the LoC and killed" the Indian soldiers.
Nawaz Sharif had summoned an emergency meeting on today to discuss the tension that has escalated between India and Pakistan over the exchange of fire along the Line of Control.
This was after Defence Minister AK Antony issued a fresh statement in Parliament, stating specialist troops of the Pakistan Army were involved in the attack and killing of Indian soldiers in Jammu and Kashmir.
Antony said that based on an on-the-spot assessment by Army Chief General Bikram Singh, it is now clear that the attack was carried out by Pakistani Army regulars.
The incident has jeopardised the likeliness of the meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Sharif in September on the sidelines of UN General Assembly in New York.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has been maintaining that given the recent killings of the soldiers, the atmosphere was not conducive for talks with Pakistan.
With PTI inputs
