Sitharaman says Pak will pay, Mufti in favour of talks
NEW DELHI; With two terror strikes on security forces in Jammu and Kashmir in two days, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said Pakistan will “pay”.
“I wouldn’t certainly state a timeline (for action against Pakistan). But will say this, Pakistan will pay for this misadventure. I repeat, Pakistan will pay for it,” Sitharaman said, triggering speculation about another possible strike against terror camps across the Line of Control, as happened after the 2016 terror attack on the army camp at Uri.
“The Ministry of Defence will stand by the Army. We have to work together with the Jammu and Kashmir government,” the minister said.
In a scathing attack on Pakistan, the minister said the neighbouring state has not taken any action “despite dossier after dossier given to them... In fact, those responsible for Mumbai terror attack are freely roaming in Pakistan”.
Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Monday pitched afresh for a dialogue between India and Pakistan to end the violence in the restive state, even as a gunfight raged between terrorists and security forces in Srinagar.
The Chief Minister also took a dig at the media, saying she would be “labelled antinational” by some, but added that war was not an option. India has repeatedly warned Pakistan that terror and talks cannot go hand in hand.
“If Farooq Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti say hold talks with Pakistan, they are dubbed anti-national. There is no alternative (to resolve the issue) except by holding talks,” Mehbooba told the state Assembly in Jammu on the concluding day of the budget session.
“If we (the Kashmiris) don’t talk about it (dialogue), who will? Not a Bihari, not a Punjabi,” she said.
A CRPF constable was killed in a gunfight with terrorists in downtown Srinagar after security forces foiled militants’ attempts to strike a CRPF camp. The militants were still holed up in an abandoned house in Karan Nagar in the heart of the city where the intermittent firing was on.
The incident comes two days after Jaish-e-mohammad militants attacked an Army camp in Sunjwan area of Jammu, killing six people including five soldiers. Three militants were also killed in retaliation by the Army.
“The search operation is still on (at the camp),” Jammubased Army public relations officer Lt Col Devender Anand said.
The J&K chief minister assailed “some tv channels” for vitiating the atmosphere in the state.
“There are some media houses that have created an atmosphere where even talking about talks has become anti-national. They hold worst debates with polarised mindset. They bring people from Kashmir who are not even known in their own colonies.
“They always speak antiindia. They are picked up because they use unparliamentary and bad language, particularly against India, and the same type of people are picked from the other side to reply to them,” Mehbooba said.