“This second infiltration bid (in Nowgam) by an unknown number of terrorists has also been foiled and the operation is on”. The prime suspect is Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed.
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“Armed forces of Pakistan are fully prepared to respond to entire spectrum of direct and indirect threat”, he said, expressing his satisfaction over operational preparedness of the army. This section doesn’t want peaceful relations between India and Pakistan and leave no stone-unturned in defaming Pakistan. “We have the desired capability to reply to such a blatant act of violence in a manner as deemed appropriate by us”.
On Sunday, Home Minister Rajnath Singh denounced Pakistan as a “terrorist state”, while BJP leader Ram Madhav said the “days of so-called strategic restraint are over” and called for a “complete jaw for one tooth”.
India is to present all actionable evidence against Pakistan to global bodies if required. Dismissing Islamabad’s denial of involvement, Junior Defense Minister, Subhash Bhamre said India would give a fitting response. “We are trying to ascertain details and will let you know”. Noting Modi’s rhetoric on Pakistan, Sinha said: “He has to respond”.
No group has claimed responsibility for the strike.
“‘Hope he wasn’t waiting to see the unfolding of virtual play which he and (India’s National Security Advisor) Ajit Doval had jointly scripted, ‘ a source suggested”.
The same outfit was implicated in an audacious assault on an Indian air force base in Pathankot in the northern state of Punjab in January.
However, many other Indian officials have cautioned against any knee-jerk reaction.
“India should prove otherwise”, he said.
“Our response should have been more robust”.
Defense analyst Rahul Bedi in New Delhi said that Modi is under pressure to do “something demonstrable” because his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janta Party has always advocated a tough stand against Pakistan.
“Pakistan categorically rejects the baseless and irresponsible accusations being levelled by senior officials in Prime Minister Modi’s government”, the foreign affairs adviser to Pakistan’s prime minister said in a statement late on Sunday. In signs of estrangement, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif wrote letters to the leaders of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the USA – about “grave human rights violations” in Kashmir by Indian forces. China might begin agitating on its own contested border with India in the Himalayas near Ladakh, he added.
Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since the end of British rule in 1947.
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According to the Indian Army, infiltration attempts from across the border with Pakistan have increased this year in comparison with the past three to four years.
