Use of alibis not going to work: Govt on Pak PM's Uri remarks

Government has hit back at Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's remarks that the Uri terror attack could be the result of a "reaction" of the people to the situation in Kashmir, saying the "use of alibis" by him is not going to work anymore.

"The use of alibis which are so blatantly and obviously wrong did not work in New York, it's not going to work in London and it is not going to work, we all can say with some confidence, even in Islamabad," Minister of State for External Affairs M J Akbar told PTI here.

Akbar made the remarks in response to Sharif's comments in London that the Uri attacks could be the result of the people's "reaction" to the tense situation in Kashmir.

"The Uri attack can be the reaction of the atrocities in Kashmir, as the close relatives and near and dear ones of those killed and blinded over the last two months were hurt and outraged," Sharif had told reporters on Friday in London where he had stopped on his way back from New York after attending the UN General Assembly session.

Akbar, who has attended a series of bilateral and multilateral meetings on the sidelines of the 71st UN General Assembly session here, said it was in an "extremely receptive manner" that the most important and powerful nations accepted India's "rationale and reasonable positions, our efforts to working through problems with cooperation, our efforts at saying that the true objective should be the elimination of the scourge of poverty and development".

He said there is strong support among nations for India's key focus that the greatest benefits of growth should go to those who need it most.

Underscoring that the biggest enemy of human rights is terrorism, he said the "enemy of development is terrorism and we must end this scourge".

18 soldiers were killed when Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists attacked a highly-guarded army camp in Uri in Kashmir on Sunday morning. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that those behind the despicable act will not go unpunished.

The incident triggered a diplomatic dust-up with both India and Pakistan hitting out at each other including at the UN General Assembly.