From Sajjad Hussain

Islamabad:Pakistan today rejected as “totally baseless and irresponsible” allegations by India that it was behind the terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Uri that killed 17 Indian soldiers, saying India has a “history of blaming Pakistan” immediately after a terror strike.

Following the dawn strike, India had criticised Pakistan for the latest attack on the Indian Army. Home Minister Rajnath Singh directly blamed Pakistan saying it was a “terrorist state” and should be isolated.

Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria in an interview to a TV channel said the Indian allegations against Pakistan are “totally baseless and irresponsible”.

“Pakistan always sought concrete evidence from India to prove its accusations, but it failed to do so,” he said.

He said “India has a history of blaming Pakistan immediately after a terror attack, which always proved wrong in investigations”.

Zakaria said “India is using different tactics to divert the world attention from the situation in occupied Kashmir”.

The Pakistan Army had earlier demanded “actionable intelligence” to support India’s accusation.

Pakistan army spokesman Lt Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa said that following the attack Director Generals of Military Operations (DGMOs) of the two countries discussed the situation along the Line of Control through hotline.

“Refuting the unfounded and premature Indian allegation, Pakistani DGMO asked his counterpart to share any actionable intelligence,” Radio Pakistan reported citing an ISPR release.

Pakistani DGMO rejected allegations of cross border infiltration and said that “watertight arrangements” were in place on both sides of the LoC and the Working Boundary. He also asked India to share evidence.

Heavily-armed militants stormed a battalion headquarters of the Indian Army in North Kashmir’s Uri town in the wee hours, killing 17 jawans and injuring 19 other personnel in the attack in which all four terrorists were neutralised. PTI