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| India-Pakistan |
| India, Pakistan spar over Gurdaspur attack |
| 2015-08-01 |
| [DAWN] India and Pakistain were locked in a furious verbal duel on Thursday over Monday's Gurdaspur attack, which Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh told parliament, was carried out by cross-border faceless myrmidons who forded the swollen Ravi River where it enters Pakistain's Punjab. Pakistain called the Indian claim a threat to peace and security in the region. "Any effort by the enemies of our nation to undermine India's territorial integrity and security or imperil the safety and security of our citizens will meet an effective and forceful response from our security forces," Mr Singh told the Rajya Sabha. Persistent jeering from Congress deputies mocking Prime Minister Narendra Modi's refrain of having a 56-inch chest, muffled his tough words. Monday's incident claimed 10 lives, including the Gurdaspur police chief. "Preliminary analyses of GPS data indicates that the faceless myrmidons had infiltrated from Pakistain through the area near Tash in Gurdaspur district, where the Ravi river enters Pakistain," the home minister said. Mr Singh also assured the house that "the government will do everything possible to prevent cross-border terrorism aimed against India". Pakistain saw in the statement ominous portends. "The Government of Pakistain categorically rejects the baseless allegations made by Mr Rajnath Singh...Pakistain regrets the unsubstantiated and unwarranted assertion that those involved in the Gurdaspur incident of 27 July, had entered India from Pakistain. Pakistain believes that home minister's provocative comments are a threat to peace and security of the region," a foreign ministry press statement said. "We have noted with concern a continuing tendency of India to cast blame on Pakistain for any terrorist incident in India. In the Gurdaspur incident, blames were apportioned to Pakistain in the Indian media, even when the encounter with faceless myrmidons was still going on." The statement from the foreign ministry spokesperson's office recalled that immediately after the Gurdaspur incident, the Government of Pakistain had issued a statement expressing condemnation "in the strongest terms" of the attack. "Pakistain condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. Terrorism is a common enemy of both Pakistain and India. To tackle terrorism, a cooperative approach is required. Blame game and finger-pointing would be unhelpful." Pakistain urged India to refrain from "casting baseless allegations" and work with Pakistain to eliminate terrorism from the region and create an environment of peace and amity in South Asia. "If Government of India has any concrete evidence in this case, same may be shared with Government of Pakistain." Mr Singh said that the same faceless myrmidons were suspected to have planted five IEDs on the railway track near Talwandi village between Dinanagar and Jhakoladi which were subsequently defused by the bomb disposal squad. A night vision device was also recovered from the spot. "The security forces in the border are alert but the difficult terrain coupled with recent heavy rains, resulting in excess flow in the rivers and canals along the border could have been a factor, in this particular group sneaking into Punjab," he said. He said that during the last one month, there were five attempts at cross-border infiltration in Jammu and Kashmire sector, out of which four were interdicted and eight faceless myrmidons neutralised. In the remaining one instance, the faceless myrmidons went back after effective retaliation by the Indian forces. |
| Posted by:Fred |