India-Pakistan ceasefire: Why DGMO talks were postponed

Talks between the Indian Army’s Director General Military Operations (DGMO) with his Pakistani counterpart, scheduled for 12 noon on Monday, did not take place as planned, as they hit a snag over the agenda and have now been postponed to the evening.

Elaborating the reason, a highly-placed military source told THE WEEK that the Pakistani side had insisted on the inclusion of several other items on the agenda that had not been agreed to by the Indian DGMO Lieutenant General Rajiv Ghai.

“The Pakistani side insisted on including items that went beyond the military mandate. They wanted to include the resumption of the Indus Water Treaty that was held in abeyance after the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22,” the source explained.

The inclusion of such items on the agenda would require the approval of the leadership, followed by appropriate clearances, which is why the talks have been postponed till later in the day.

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Under normal circumstances, it has been a practice for the offices of the DGMOs of the two countries to communicate via the hotline, whenever required, on a Tuesday.

It was the Pakistani DGMO who had called up Lt Gen Ghai on Saturday, after which it was agreed between the two sides to stop all military actions on land, at sea, and in the air, effective from 5PM on May 10.

Hostilities had broken out between the two South Asian neighbours after Pakistan-backed terrorists gunned down 26 civilians in Kashmir’s Pahalgam on April 22.

India hit back with strikes against terror camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and also deep inside Pakistan under a military operation codenamed ‘Sindoor’.

Counter-strikes by Pakistan's military had spiked up tensions between the two nuclear-armed nations, raising global concerns. 

Defence