President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday said that Turkey will make arrangements for sending a fact-finding mission to Indian Occupied Kashmir in the capacity of the Chair of human rights commission of the OIC Contact Group.
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“A group of 10-12 terrorists attempted to infiltrate the Uri sector”. While Pakistan is being nailed for this attack, an intial probe by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) suggests that it is too early to conclude the association the terrorists to any specific group.
The area has seen a spike in violence after Indian security forces killed a popular Kashmiri militant leader in July, which led to protests that killed more than 80 civilians.
“The Secretary praised Pakistan for hosting Afghan refugees for over 40 years and highlighted the importance of continued respect for humanitarian principles”, he said. In Islamabad, foreign office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria said, “There seems to be some activity across the border but there has been no activity from our side, not one shot fired from here”.
Another army spokesman, Manish Kumar, also claimed that Indian troops foiled an infiltration bid in the Nowgam sector as well. “They were intercepted and the infiltration bid was foiled”, an Indian military spokesman had said.
The Indian army had earlier claimed to have thwarted an infiltration bid by militants from Pakistan in Baramullah district’s Lachipura region in held Kashmir. “The fire was returned”, the Army said but gave no further details.
Sources said the home minister took stock of the steps taken to check infiltration along the LoC and the International Border with Pakistan. “The residents of Mahiyan when contacted over the phone said that they could hear intermittent firing but since they were confined to their homes they couldn’t say who was firing at whom”.
Pakistan is often accused of firing at Indian posts to provide cover to militants trying to sneak into this side of the LoC.
Meanwhile, the Western Army Commander Lt. Gen. Surinder Singh, on Tuesday visited border areas of Jammu, Samba and Kathua and emphasised on the need to ensure high degree of alertness.
The sources said that there could be four to five militants hiding in the area.
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The predawn ambush on Sunday in the highly militarised Uri area has sharply increased tensions between India and Pakistan. The ceasefire violation comes two days after four Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists stormed an army base in Uri Sector, killing 18 soldiers and injuring several others.
