Since Wednesday, there have been intense duels between Indian and Pakistani forces along LoC (File photo)
Army officers have told NDTV that while there has been no ceasefire violation along the Line of Control in Kashmir some 48 hours after top Indian and Pak Army commanders spoke, it is too early to link it to de-escalation as there have been two more infiltration attempts since.
Officers say they cannot discount the possibility that Pakistan initiated a conversation between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) to secure a 'tactical pause' to replenish supplies and ammunition at its frontline posts.
Since Wednesday, there have been intense duels between Indian and Pakistani forces along the LoC, with both sides using heavy mortars, automatic weapons and occasionally anti-tank guided missiles to target each other's soldiers and fortifications. Even a two-day pause in firing, it is believed, would enable Pakistan to move urgently needed stores to its forces.
In his 10-12 minute conversation with Lieutenant General Ranbir Singh on Wednesday evening, Pakistan's Major General Sahir Shamsad Mirza had complained about an Indian attack on a civilian bus in the Neelum Valley in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. According to Islamabad, "one civilian bus plying on the route was deliberately targeted" resulting in nine deaths and nine serious injuries. The army said in a statement, that the Indian military officer expressed grief "but emphatically stated that retaliatory firing by Indian troops has only been carried out targeting locations from where Pakistan has initiated ceasefire violations."
NDTV has now learned that Pakistani forces had inexplicably cleared the movement of vehicles on this road, even though this had been suspended because of the situation along the LoC.
NDTV has also learnt that an alternate route exists in the Neelum Valley, which is outside the range of Indian gunners, but this route was not used by the bus.
At a time when the army launched fire assaults along the LoC after the beheading of the Indian soldier Prabhu Singh on Tuesday, there was no guarantee that the bus didn't have Pakistan Army regulars or wasn't being used to stock provisions in Pakistan posts.
There is also a sense among senior Indian Army officers, that Pakistani forces in the region may have been testing the waters - trying to push through a civilian bus which may well have been followed by other civilian buses or trucks carrying soldiers or supplies.
Details available to NDTV also indicate the exact sequence of events that resulted in the DGMO talks on Wednesday.
At 6:30 pm, two hours after firing stopped along the LoC, the hotline between the offices of the DGMO was activated by the Pakistan Army.
A Duty Officer on the Indian side, one among a group of officers who permanently man the phone, asked the Pakistanis what their DGMO wanted to speak about. Pakistan did not specify but requested an unscheduled and urgent conversation between Lt Gen Singh and Major General Mirza. The Indian Army agreed to a conversation which took place a few hours later. The Pakistan desk at the External Affairs Ministry was notified and worked with the Military Operations Directorate to shortlist the main points to be raised. National Security Advisor Ajit Doval was also informed about Pakistan's request and was briefed once the conversation ended.