Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar on Wednesday summoned Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit to his South Block office on Wednesday to express India’s outrage over the killing and barbaric act of mutilation of the bodies of two Indian soldiers. The Foreign Secretary handed out a demarche to Basit and told him to convey to Pakistan Government that India has sufficient evidence to prove two soldiers were mutilated by the Pakistan Army regulars and now it wants Islamabad to take action against its Army commanders for the act.
“The Foreign Secretary told the Pakistani High Commissioner that India considers the mutilation of its soldiers a strong act of provocation. This was against any civilisational norms,” said Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Gopal Baglay. India also conveyed that a covering fire was provided by the Pakistan Army to enable its BAT (Border Action Team) enter Indian side and carry out the barbaric act of mutilation. Pakistan has denied its Army carried out such an attack.
Baglay said that blood samples of Indian soldiers collected from the place of incident and trail of blood leading to Pakistani side showed the killers returned to their territory after carrying out the attack. The blood trail was indicative of the fact that the Pakistani soldiers carried mutilated body parts of Indian soldiers with them, he added.
“The blood samples collected from the site in Krishna Ghati sector along the loC matches with the blood of the two Indian security personnel. The blood trail shows that the perpetrators who entered the Indian side from PoK returned from where they came from. This information was shared with the Pakistani High Commission and he was told Indian side has enough evidence. We have demanded immediate action against Pakistani soldiers and commander who crossed loC in Krishna Ghati sector,” Baglay added.
Basit, it is learnt, defended the Pakistan Army and denied that Pakistani soldiers were involved in any such activity but added that he will convey the content of the demarche to his Government.
Meanwhile, given the tense situation on the India-Pakistan borders, the 50 Pakistani schoolchildren, who were visiting India on a student exchange programme, were sent back to lahore. The Pakistani students were invited by an Indian NGO and they landed in New Delhi on the day the barbaric incident took place on the loC following which the MEA advised the NGO to send back the children as the prevailing conditions were not conducive.