Pulwama attack: FO summons Indian Deputy High Commissioner over baseless allegations
Last updated on: 16 February,2019 03:55 pm
The foreign office has rejected unfounded allegations of India on Pakistan.
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) - The Foreign Office on Friday summoned Indian Deputy High Commissioner Gaurav Ahluwalia and lodged strong protest over baseless allegations made by India in the aftermath of Pulwama suicide attack in the Occupied Kashmir.
The foreign office has rejected unfounded allegations of India on Pakistan.
Ahluwalia was also handed over a demarche which strongly rejected any insinuation by elements in Indian government and media circles that seek to link the attack to State of Pakistan without investigations.
“Jaish-e-Muhammad is a banned outfit and has no links with Pakistan whereas their members were present in the area occupied by India,” it added.
Indian High Commissioner Ajay Basaria also left Islamabad after being called back by India.
Earlier, Indian Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale also summoned Pakistani High Commissioner Sohail Mahmood and lodged diplomatic protest over the incident.
The Indian government has blamed Pakistan for Pulwama attack and threatened to isolate it at international level. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said those behind the terror attack would pay a "very heavy price" and had made a "huge mistake".
Union Minister Arun Jaitley said they will take all possible diplomatic steps to ensure "complete isolation" of Pakistan and has withdrawn ‘Most Favoured Nation’ status to the country.
Also Read: Pointing finger at Pakistan for Pulwama attack is wrong: ex-IOK CM
PULWAMA SUICIDE ATTACK
At least 44 Indian paramilitary soldiers were killed on Thursday in Indian-occupied Kashmir in one the deadliest attacks. The attack saw explosives packed inside a van rip through buses in a convoy of 78 vehicles carrying some 2,500 members of the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).
Two blue buses carrying around 35 people each bore the brunt of the massive blast, heard miles away, around 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the city of Srinagar on the main highway to Jammu.
Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since independence. The Kashmiris have been fighting for an independent Kashmir, or a merger with Pakistan, for 30 years.
Last year was the deadliest in a decade, with rights monitors saying almost 600 Kashmiri people died, most of them civilians. Thousands more have been maimed in recent years by pellet-firing shotguns used by Indian forces.