ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Saturday summoned the acting head of the Indian high commission to lodge a protest over New Delhi's allegations that it had been plotting an attack in the town of Nagrota in Jammu district of Indian-controlled Kashmir.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday that four militants from Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed were "neutralized" by security forces and the recovery of a large cache of weapons and explosives from them, indicated that they were planning to "wreak major havoc and destruction" in the region ahead of local elections there.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs said a protest was lodged with Pakistan’s envoy in New Delhi to demand that Pakistan desist from "its policy of supporting terrorists and terror groups operating from its territory."
Pakistan’s foreign office summoned India's charge d'affaires in Islamabad to reject Modi’s allegations as groundless and part of "desperate attempts to divert international attention" from India's "state terrorism" in Kashmir and "its state-sponsorship of terrorism against Pakistan."
"Any attempt to mischievously implicate Pakistan in any false flag operation or stage-managed incident would not carry any credibility whatsoever ... Pakistan has already put forth irrefutable evidence, extensively documenting India’s active planning, promoting, aiding, abetting, financing and execution of terrorist activities in Pakistan," the foreign office said, referring to last week's joint conference of Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and military spokesman Maj. Gen. Babar Iftikhar who presented what they called “irrefutable evidence” of India’s sponsorship of attacks against Pakistan.
Tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbors have been high since last August, when Modi’s government ended the semi-autonomy of Kashmiri territory under its administration. Both countries claim Kashmir in full but administer in part.
India will hold district-level elections in Kashmir this month, in the first such exercise since the region's statehood and autonomy were abrogated.