Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Thursday he is willing to hold peace talks with India, days after the two nuclear-armed neighbors ended their most serious military standoff in nearly 30 years.
The Indian and Pakistani armies Thursday decided to continue "confidence-building measures to reduce alertness level,” according to an official statement released in New Delhi.
"Further to the understanding between the two DGMOs (directors general of military operations) on May 10, it has been decided to continue the confidence-building measures so as to reduce the alertness level,” the Indian Army said in the statement.
The Pakistani security sources confirmed the two DGMOs held a third telephonic conversation on Thursday, and "they have agreed to maintain a ceasefire.”
The fresh statement comes after tensions rocketed between India and Pakistan, including an exchange of missiles and drones last week, following an attack by unidentified gunmen that left 26 people dead, mostly Indian tourists, on April 22 in Indian-administered Kashmir.
The hostilities ended after the US mediated a ceasefire between the two South Asian neighbors last weekend, which remains in effect.
However, the South Asian neighbors Thursday raised concern over each other's nuclear arsenal.
"I raise this question before the world: Are nuclear weapons safe in the hands of such an irresponsible and rogue nation? Pakistan’s nuclear weapons should be taken under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA),” Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh said in Srinagar, the capital of Indian-administered Kashmir.
Islamabad, in its response to Singh, said: "These irresponsible remarks reveal his profound insecurity and frustration regarding Pakistan's effective defense and deterrence against Indian aggression through conventional means. Pakistan's conventional capabilities are adequate to deter India, without the self-imposed ‘nuclear blackmail’ that New Delhi suffers."
"If anything, the IAEA and the international community should be worried about the repeated theft and illicit trafficking incidents involving nuclear and radioactive material in India,” the Pakistani Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
