Tehran:
Flagging 19 violations of the Line of Control (LoC) by Pakistan this year, India on Tuesday told that country to respect the 2003 ceasefire agreement and not to vitiate the atmosphere and disturb the bilateral peace process.
India also lodged a protest when DGMO Lt Gen A S Sekhon spoke to his Pakistani counterpart through the hotline regarding Monday's major violation which also saw some tough talk by the Government.
The incident in Kupwara sector in which one Indian soldier was killed was described by the Army as the first LoC incursion after the 1999 Kargil war.
Defence Minister A K Antony said in a statement in New Delhi the increase in ceasefire violations was a matter of concern while External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who is now in Teheran on an official visit, described the latest incident as unfortunate.
",The increase in ceasefire violations and firings across the LoC is a matter of concern to India,", said Antony.
While maintaining that India is keeping ",adequate restraint", to prevent escalation of tensions, Antony asserted that India is fully prepared to deal with any such instances ",firmly.", Antony said there were 19 ceasefire violations by Pakistan since January this year.
The Defence Minister told Islamabad that it should strictly adhere to the existing mechanism for dealing with violations by holding local flag meetings and Director General of Military Operations (DGMO)-level talks.
In Tehran, Mukherjee said, ",It would be my appeal to the Pakistani authorities to ensure that the ceasefire is maintained and both sides maintain peace and tranquility at the border.", ",Nothing should be done to vitiate the atmosphere so that the dialogue process becomes disturbed,", he told
reporters.