(With no signs of any let up in the offensive from either side, the possibility of de-escalation seems dim.)

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India to Pakistan: Border trouble will bring 'unaffordable costs'

NEW DELHI: India is in no mood to make the first move to de-escalate border tension with cross-border firing that began over two weeks ago continuing intermittently, according to top government sources.In fact, the present strategy is to return Pakistani fire aggressively instead of considering any resumption of talks with Pakistan any time soon, it is learnt. Bilateral dialogue with Pakistan looks distant at the moment, said the sources, with New Delhi putting the blame on Islamabad for not allowing the atmospherics to be created for talks, by its continuous violation of the ceasefire.Apart from adopting the staid old tactic of pushing in terrorists through the international border and line of control (LoC) under the cover of cross-border fire to divert the attention of Indian security forces, the government has received reports that the border offensive by the Pakistani army has the backing of Islamabad.The fact that 18 infiltrators were killed by the Indian forces between the floods in Jammu & Kashmir and now is being seen as a typical evidence of the usual practice by the Pakistani army to push in terrorists if the winter snow sets up on the mountain passes.Government sources said the border offensive is a part of Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ’s strategy to internationalize the Kashmir issue and keep its domestic audience engaged at a time when he is faced with troubles at home with political rivals like Imran Khan going after the establishment and the economy in bad shape. It’s to keep the volatile domestic situation from blowing up on Sharif’s face that the government in Islamabad has been backing the border tensions, sources said.Defence minister Arun Jaitley is also being constantly updated, it is learnt. On the back of these inputs from various government agencies, Jaitley had said last week that the offensive will become “unaffordable” for Pakistan.