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Indian soldiers killed in attack on Kashmir base

The Sept. 18 terror attack on an Indian army camp in Jammu and Kashmir’s Uri base which killed 18 soldiers, has drawn condemnation from around the world, including Russian Federation and the United Nations.

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Russia, France, Canada and Afghanistan on Monday joined several other countries in condemning the Uri attack which claimed the lives of 18 soldiers.

Ties between the two have been tense in recent times, with efforts to kick-start a stalled peace dialogue ending in January this year following a terror attack on an Indian Air Force base in Pathankot.

Sources have said that External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will strongly emphasize Pakistan’s involvement in the attack during her UNGA speech on September 26.

But security experts say India lacks the military capabilities to take on its neighbour.

Home Affairs Minister Rajnath Singh called Pakistan a “terrorist state” and demanded Modi take action.

Sources said the Indian envoy in France, Mohan Kumar, also dialled the French Foreign Ministry, following which Paris issued a statement: “France most firmly condemns the bad terrorist attack perpetrated against an Indian Army camp in the region of Kashmir”.

“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.

“We reserve the right to respond to any act of the adversary at a time and place of our choosing”, Lieutenant General Ranbir Singh told reporters.

Sources said the Indian mission to the United Nations will also set up bilateral meetings with a host of foreign ministers and other leaders representing various countries at the United Nations – in a bid to highlight Pakistan’s role in terrorist activities in Kashmir and other parts of India.

“Selective but extremely opaque and high-handed use of force by Pakistani authorities has affected civilian populations on a large scale”, it said, adding that more than one million people remain displaced as a result of the current and past armed conflicts in northwest Pakistan.

Intelligence officers said this clearly shows that the Jaish were involved. France and Canada also condemned the attack and said they stand with India in the fight against terrorism, as global denunciation continued to pour in against the brazen assault carried out by suspected Pakistan-based terrorists of Jaish-e-Mohammed.

Giving statistics to back his charge, Lt Gen Singh said the Indian Army foiled 17 infiltration bids along the LoC in 2016 so far. “Only concrete steps, like arresting militant leaders and shutting down training camps, will convince India (and the world) that Islamabad is serious about preventing its territory from being used for terror attacks against its neighbors”, Lisa Curtis of The Heritage Foundation said yesterday. Two of the four bodies are charred below the waist, they said. Of 110 terrorists eliminated in Jammu & Kashmir, 31 were killed while trying to infiltrate via LoC.

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“It is a blatant attempt on India’s part to deflect attention from the fast deteriorating humanitarian and human rights situation in the Indian-occupied Kashmir since the death of Burhan Wani”, Pakistan’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

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