Saturday Dec 14, 2024
Saturday Dec 14, 2024
Wednesday, 20 February 2019 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
SRINAGAR, India (Reuters): India’s top military commander in the disputed Kashmir region said on Tuesday Pakistan’s main Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) spy agency was involved in an attack last week on a security convoy claimed by a Pakistan-based militant group.
At least 40 paramilitary men were killed in the suicide car bombing on a Kashmir road on Thursday. The Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) militant group claimed responsibility.
India has accused Pakistan of being behind the attack and tension has escalated between the nuclear-armed neighbours.
Pakistan condemned the bombing and denied any complicity, and on Tuesday it appealed to the United Nations to intervene, in light of the deteriorating security situation.
Lieutenant-General K.J.S. Dhillon told reporters that the leaders behind the attack were being tracked, and it had been orchestrated from the Pakistani side of the border.
“It was being controlled from across by ISI and Pakistan and JeM commanders,” he said.
Dhillon did not provide any proof for his accusation.
He said he could not be more specific about the investigation into the blast and the suspected role of the Pakistan military intelligence agency, except to note its close links with the Jaish.
“The JeM is a child of the Pakistan army, and the ISI. The attack was masterminded by Pakistan, ISI and JeM,” he said in Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir state.
Pakistan demanded India conduct an open and credible investigation into the attack to back up its claims. “Attributing it to Pakistan even before investigations is absurd,” Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said in a letter to the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres seeking UN involvement to lower tension.
“It is with a sense of urgency that I draw your attention to the deteriorating security situation in our region resulting from the threat of use of force against Pakistan by India,” he said.
