“India has borne the brunt of unchecked terrorist attacks coming from Pakistan in Udhampur, Gurdaspur, Pathankot and Pampore leading to heavy casualties of Army and police, including senior most officers”, he told reporters. India was ranked fifth in the world in terms of military strength, according to a 2015 assessment by Credit Suisse based on data from Stockholm International Peace Research Institute and Global Firepower, compared to 11th for Pakistan.
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Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar met and briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the Uri attack.
Indian Home Affairs Minister Rajnath Singh called Pakistan a “terrorist state” soon after Sunday’s attack.
India had reacted strongly to the deadliest attack on the Army in Jammu and Kashmir in a quarter-century-old insurgency that sparked an outrage with the Prime Minister strongly condemning it. “It has taken place days before Pakistan is going to raise Indian repression against peaceful Kashmiris in the United Nations General Assembly session”, Zakaria said.
“This should awaken worldwide conscience”, the advisor said.
He said that it is the “intelligence failure” of India if it continuously blames Pakistan for sending infiltrators to this part of Kashmir.
After the meeting, Kiren Rijiju said India was not concerned with Pakistani denials and will not respond with a knee-jerk reaction.
The terrorists had “some items which had Pakistani markings on”, he said.
Pakistan on Sunday rejected Indian accusations it was involved in a brazen militant attack on an Indian military headquarters in occupied Kashmir which killed 17 soldiers and injured 19 others.
Sunday’s attack was one of the bloodiest on soldiers since an armed rebellion against Indian rule erupted in 1989.
“Pointing fingers at Pakistan has become a traditional tendency of India after each terrorist attack”, the Dawn quoted Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria as saying. The UN is preparing to hold its annual general assembly in NY, where Kashmir is likely to be on the agenda.
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“We urge this Council to take a holistic view of this threat and not permit the use of terrorism as state policy to be masqueraded as advocacy of human rights”, it added. Pakistan also supports separatists in Jammu and kashmir to instigate the youth against the India and its security forces. A swift, surgical strike on terror camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) was among the options that figured in the speculation, but experts also cautioned against consequences and damages that an escalation could pose if it goes out of hand.
