Pakistan demands international probe into Uri attack

Pakistan on Monday demanded an international probe to "unearth the facts" into the terror attack on an army camp in Jammu and Kashmir's Uri earlier this month, terming India's allegations that the militants were from Pakistan as "baseless".

Adviser to Pakistan Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said that whenever an attack takes place in India, New Delhi always accuses Pakistan without even conducting an investigation into the matter, Radio Pakistan quoted him as saying.

He said "An independent international commission should be constituted to unearth the facts" about the September 18 attack by four terrorists, that left 18 Indian soldiers dead. India has said the attack was by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad group, which is also accused of mounting the January 2 Pathankot attack on an Indian air force base.

According to Aziz, this is not the first time that India has levelled such "baseless allegations" against Pakistan.

Any such attack neither benefits Pakistan nor Kashmir, he said, adding that the "attack diverts the world's attention from human rights violations" in Kashmir.

Tensions have been running high between India and Pakistan since the July 9 violence in Kashmir, a day after the killing of top militant Burhan Wani by security forces.

More than 90 persons have been killed and over 11,500 injured in clashes between the security forces and protesters.

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in his UNGA address maintained that Islamabad wants peace with New Delhi but it is "not possible without resolving the Kashmir issue".

In his speech on Saturday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India will not forget the sacrifices of the 18 soldiers killed in Uri and will isolate Pakistan internationally for exporting "terrorism" to the world.

--IANS

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