New Delhi/WASHINGTON: India on Thursday outrightly rejected Pakistan’s proposal for UN investigation into Tuesday’s incident on Line of Control (LoC) in which two Indian soldiers were killed with the body of one being badly mutilated.
The issue figured at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) which was briefed by Defence Minister A K Antony on the incident in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch sector on January eight and subsequent developments.
“We are certainly not going to agree to internationalise the issue or allow the United Nations to hold an inquiry. That demand is obviously rejected out of hand,” Finance Minister P Chidambaram told a press conference after the meetings of the Union Cabinet and CCS here.
Pakistan had on Wednesday claimed that its troops were not involved in the attack carried out inside the Indian territory in Mendhar area of Jammu and Kashmir and said it was prepared to hold investigation through the UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP).
UNMOGIP has presence on both sides of LoC. “We take a serious view of what happened…Whatever has to be done will be done,” Chidambaram said while describing the incident as brutal.
He noted that Pakistan High Commissioner Salman Bashir had been summoned by the Ministry of External Affairs and a protest lodged.
Chidambaram, who is a member of CCS presided by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, asserted that Indian troops had committed no violation of the ceasefire agreement as claimed in a media report.
He said the conduct of the Indian troops was within the guidelines that were agreed upon by the two countries. Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari said the action of Pakistani troops was inhuman and the government had taken the matter seriously.
“It was inhuman. We have condemned it,” he said.
US plea: Meanwhile, the US has asked India and Pakistan to cool down tensions over the killing of two Indian soldiers along the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir and talk to each other to improve relations.
“We’re urging both sides to take steps to end the violence. We continue to strongly support any efforts to improve relations between the two countries,” State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland told reporters.
“We’ve also discussed these latest incidents with both governments, urged them to talk to each other, and urged calm,” she said in response to a question about the incident. (Agencies)
