Pakistan sees vilification campaign
Aziz demands international probe into attack on Uri army base in Kashmir
Pakistan yesterday rejected Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s assertion that it was exporting terror, saying the remarks were part of a “well thought-out vilification campaign” to distract attention from Kashmir.
The Pakistan Foreign Office said in a statement that Modi in a public meeting in Kerala “tried to malign Pakistan”. “It is unfortunate that Indian leadership continues to indulge in a well thoughtout vilification campaign against Pakistan by making provocative statements and baseless accusations. Such irresponsible display of behaviour at the highest political level is regrettable,” the Foreign Office said.
“It is evident that, as an act of desperation, India is trying to distract world attention from the atrocities perpetrated” by its forces in Kashmir against “innocent and defenceless” Kashmiris, including children and women, the statement said.
Pakistan’s reaction came after Modi launched a blistering attack on it on Saturday in his first public address after last Sunday’s deadly Uri terror attack. Modi said the sacrifice of 18 soldiers will not go in vain while all out efforts will be made to isolate Pakistan globally.
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s Adviser on Foreign Affairs, Sartaj Aziz, has demanded an international investigation into the attack on the army base in Kashmir, in an interview to BBC. The prime minister’s aide offered all assistance and cooperation by Pakistan for an international probe.
Aziz told the BBC Urdu language service that it had become India’s habit to blame Pakistani agencies or non-state actors after every incident without even initiating an inquiry into it. “So, it is our wish and demand that an impartial international inquiry be carried out into the Uri attack,” Aziz said.
Defying militant threat and separatists’ call, thousands of youth across Kashmir have turned up to fill 10,000 posts of Special Police Officers (SPOs) despite the ongoing unrest that has claimed 82 lives.
“We have received over 25,000 applications from the aspiring candidates willing to serve as SPOs from across the 10 districts of the Valley,” a senior official supervising the process said here.
On Thursday, the centre had approved the recruitment of an additional 10,000 SPOs with immediate effect to strengthen the Jammu and Kashmir police, particularly in view of the unrest in the Valley.
There are already 25,000 SPOs in the state, engaged on a monthly honorarium of Rs6,000 (Dh330). The official said the highest number of applications, at 8,600, were received from north Kashmir’s Kupwara district, followed by Budgam (4,000), Baramulla (3,853), Anantnag (2,400), Ganderbal (1,600), Kulgam (1,258), and Bandipora and Srinagar (1,000 each). While 800 applications were received from Pulwama district, 500 were from in Shopian district, he said.