‘Bid to divert attention from Kashmir’

Responding to Indian Defence Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement on the situation on the Line of Control, Pakistan on Thursday accused India of vitiating the regional environment by making provocative statements.

In an interview to the state-run Radio Pakistan, Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria said Pakistan has made it clear that no incident of mutilation of bodies of Indian soldiers had taken place along the LoC.

He said India had lost every right to take its allegations to the United Nations because it had never abided by the world body’s injunctions nor cooperated with the UN Military Observers Group (UNMOGIP) established for this purpose.

Mr. Zakaria said India has always used “Pakistan card” for its internal political manouvering and diverting world attention from its atrocities in Kashmir.

Students’ return

In a separate statement, the Foreign Office spokesman criticised the Indian government for sending back 50 Pakistani students, who were touring India in an exchange programme organised by an NGO, Routes2Roots.

“India has sent back the students’ cultural delegation out of fear of Hindu extremists,” Mr. Zakaria said.

“In India, growing incidents of intolerance, extremism and terrorism have attracted the world’s attention... India’s hostile policy towards Pakistan, and persecution of religious minorities including Muslims, Christians and others within India have been noted by the international community with concern,” he said.