India summoned Pakistan’s highest ranking diplomat in New Delhi on Saturday and held a strong protest against an attempted attack by the UN-designated terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) that was recently thwarted by security forces in Jammu. and Kashmir.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned Aftab Hassan Khan, charge d’affaires of Pakistan’s high commission, and demanded that “Pakistan desist from its policy of supporting terrorists and terrorist groups operating from its territory and dismantle the terrorist infrastructure operated by teams terrorists to launch attacks in other countries ”, according to an official statement.
Khan was told that the Indian government is “firmly and resolutely committed to taking all necessary measures to safeguard its national security in the fight against terrorism.”
On Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that security forces in Jammu and Kashmir had thwarted a JeM plan to “wreak great havoc and destruction” by killing four members of the group and seizing a large cache of weapons and explosives. The four terrorists were shot dead during a three-hour shootout on the Jammu-Srinagar highway on Thursday.
The statement said that security forces had foiled a “major terrorist attack” in Nagrota, and that initial reports indicated that the attackers were “members of the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), a terrorist organization outlawed by the United Nations and several countries. ”.
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The huge cache of weapons, ammunition and explosives seized on Thursday indicated “a detailed planning of a major attack to destabilize peace and security in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, in particular, to derail the ongoing democratic exercise of conducting the development of the local district municipal elections ”, he added.
“The government of India expressed serious concern over the continued terrorist attacks by JeM against India,” the statement said.
India’s long-standing demand that Pakistan “comply with its international obligations and bilateral commitments not to allow any territory under its control to be used for terrorism against India in any way” was reiterated to the Pakistani charge d’affaires.
The statement said that the JeM has been a part of several attacks in India in the past, including the suicide attack in Pulwama in February 2019 that killed 40 Indian soldiers and sparked a clash between the two sides. India had carried out an airstrike on a JeM facility in Balakot in retaliation for the suicide bombing.
On Friday, Pakistan had rejected the allegations made by Prime Minister Modi, saying they were part of “desperate attempts by India to divert international attention” from the situation in Jammu and Kashmir. A statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Islamabad also accused India of being involved in “state sponsorship of terrorism against Pakistan.”
“It is clear that India has stepped up anti-Pakistan propaganda, after Pakistan submitted the dossier that provides irrefutable evidence of state sponsorship of terrorism by India,” he said, referring to a dossier that was released earlier this month by civilians and military leadership.
Pakistan claimed that the file contained evidence of the alleged involvement of Indian intelligence agents in acts of terrorism, but India dismissed the accusations.
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