New Delhi, December 17
The Director Generals of Military Operations (DGMOs) of India and Pakistan will meet at the Wagah-Attari land crossing between the two neighbours on December 24, the first-ever such meeting since July 1999.

Indian DGMO Lt Gen Vinod Bhatia has been invited by his Pakistani counterpart Maj Gen Amir Riaz for talks through diplomatic channels of the foreign offices on either side.

The invite has been accepted by India after consultations between the Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Defence. The Wagah-Attari crossing is around 29 km west of Amritsar.

The two officers will discuss measures to lower tension along the 749-km-long Line of Control. An understanding on DGMOs’ meeting was reached when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif in New York in September.

A ceasefire agreement was signed between the two countries in 2003. Either side accuses the other of repeated ceasefire violations with troops firing across the LoC, killing and injuring civilians, damaging homes and sporadic killing of troops. Both countries have aggressive action teams that patrol the border.

One such Pakistan Army patrol team killed two Indian soldiers in January and beheaded one of them. Another attack was carried out in August when five Indian soldiers were killed. When the Indian side retaliated, Pakistan alleged their villages were shelled and three soldiers killed.

The last time the military establishments of India and Pakistan met through their DGMOs for talks to establish tranquillity on the LoC was more than 14 years ago on July 11, 1999, towards the end of Kargil hostilities. The meeting was more to facilitate withdrawal of Pakistani troops without the Indians firing at them. The recent talks had got delayed in modalities as the United States and Pakistan had been insisting that the foreign offices on either side should lead the meeting and the DGMOs be part of it.