Omar bats for talks between NSAs of India and Pakistan

Team Udayavani, Jan 20, 2018, 10:44 AM IST

Jammu: Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah today strongly batted for talks between the National Security Advisors of India and Pakistan to end ceasefire violations.

He was reacting to the ceasefire violations by Pakistan along International Border in Jammu in which five people, including three civilians and two BSF personnel, were killed and 28 others injured in the past two days.

“I hope that our NSA (Ajit Doval) can pick up the phone and talk to his counterpart (retired Lt Gen. Nasser Khan Janjua) in Pakistan to put an end to ceasefire violations,” he told reporters here.

“The ceasefire must hold. The shelling and violence on the International Border and the Line of Control must end, and then hopefully India and Pakistan can take step towards normalising, what is otherwise an abnormal relationship,” he said.

Omar also took a dig on the “secret talks” between the NSAs of India and Pakistan in Thailand in view of the ceasefire violations.

“We are told that our NSA had secret talks with the NSA of Pakistan in Bangkok. What are those talks about, if we cannot even maintain a ceasefire on the border? What are we talking about?

Ultimately talks have to be about something, he said.

“There is a regular breakdown of ceasefire. This is something that Delhi and Islamabad need to sort out,” he said.

The National Conference has always maintained that violence is not the solution to the problems of Jammu and Kashmir and the two countries need to talk each other, he said.