All the four militants were also killed.
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Meanwhile, some residents of border villages in the Pakistan-controlled portion of Kashmir said they were frightened after the Indian army hoisted red flags along the Line of Control, a sign of danger and increased tension.
Sharif, in his 20-minute speech, which was heavily laden with talk on Kashmir, had said: “Burhan Wani, the young leader murdered by Indian forces has emerged as a symbol of latest Kashmiri “intifada”. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed to punish those behind the “cowardly” and “despicable” hours-long attack near the town of Uri that also left four militants dead and scores of soldiers injured. Sources said a six-member NIA team, led by a Deputy Inspector General (DIG) rank officer, has started its probe after filing a First Information Report (FIR) in the terror attack case.
Insisting that peace and normalisation between Pakistan and India can not be achieved without a resolution of the Kashmir dispute, Sharif made a number of allegations with regard to the current unrest in the valley.
“Both India and Pakistan are important regional countries and we hope they have more dialogue and properly deal with disputes and remain committed to peace, stability and security of the region”, he said.
“The Secretary commended the Prime Minister for restoring macroeconomic stability to Pakistan over the last three years and expressed appreciation for Pakistan’s cooperation on climate change priorities”, he said. “We will not allow externally sponsored terrorism and efforts of destabilisation to cause turbulence in Pakistan”.
Sharif said about the absence of dialogues between the two countries: “India posed unacceptable pre-conditions to engage in dialogue”.
Despite Islamabad’s strong denial of any involvement in Sunday’s attack, India’s politicians have lined up to apportion blame to Pakistan. Gambhir told the UNGA that Pakistan channelizes billions of dollars, much of it diverted from global aid, to training, financing and supporting terrorist groups as militant proxies against it neighbours such as India and Afghanistan+. Pakistan itself is a victim of terrorism.
But security experts say India lacks the military capabilities to take on its neighbour in the divided Himalayan region, already tense after weeks of violent clashes between police and demonstrators protesting at Indian rule. Placards in Gujarati from left to right read, “Down with Pakistan, Down with Nawaz Sharif”, “India will not tolerate bullying of Pakistan”, “shoot agents of Pakistan”, “India will not tolerate bullying of Pakistan”, and “where is? where is? where is?”
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It comes after 10 weeks of protests in which nearly 90 people have died.
