India issues demarche to Pak envoy, questions cross-border infiltration, sending trained terrorists

New Delhi, Aug.9 (ANI): The Ministry of External Affairs on Tuesday summoned Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit to register the Government of India's protest and objection to Islamabad's policy of supporting cross-border infiltration and sending trained terrorists into India. Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar issued a strongly-worded demarche (a note of protest or objection to actions taken by a foreign government) to High Commissioner Basit on Pakistan continuing with its policy of cross-border infiltration and sending across trained terrorists with instructions to carry out attacks in India. The demarche reminded Pakistan that its leadership had given assurances to India at the highest level that such infiltration would be stopped and not allowed. The demarche made a specific reference to the presence of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist and Pakistani national Bahadur Ali who was apprehended by Indian security forces recently. The demarche said that Bahadur Ali alias Abu Saifullah was arrested by the Indian authorities on July 25 this year and had in his possession an AK-47 rifle, live rounds, grenades, a grenade launcher as also sophisticated communication equipment and other material of Pakistani and international origin. The MEA further informed High Commissioner Ali through the demarche that Bahadur Ali had confessed to the Indian authorities that after training in Lashkar-e-Toiba camps, he was infiltrated into India. It said that he had admitted that he was in touch with the "operations room" of the LeT, receiving instructions to attack Indian security personnel and carry out terrorist attacks in India. The demarche said that Bahadur Ali has requested the Pakistan High Commission for legal aid and assistance to meet his family and that the Indian government is prepared to grant the Pakistan High Commission consular access to Bahadur Ali. The Indian Government's tersely worded demarche also comes in the wake of Pakistan's critical statements made on Kashmir over the past month. Islamabad has been reaching out to the international community over the last four weeks on the reported incidents of violence on the Indian side of the Kashmir Valley that followed the elimination of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani in an encounter with security forces in the Tral region. Soon after his funeral, statements started coming out of Islamabad and other parts of Pakistan describing his death as tragic and as a manifestation of the actual situation on ground in the Kashmir Valley. This further fanned the aggressive sentiments of demonstrators on the Indian side of Kashmir. Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif described Wani as a martyr and accused India of human rights violations in the valley. 26/11 Mumbai attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed called on the youth of the valley to take up arms against the Indian authorities. Saeed also led a 'Kashmir Caravan' from Lahore to Islamabad in Pakistan and said he had spoken to both Wani (before his death) and Asiya Andrabi, the leader of the separatist Dukhtaran-e-Millat, and warned that he would march towards Jammu and Kashmir to secure the 'freedom of Kashmiris'. On July 19, a Black Day was observed in Pakistan to express its solidarity with the people of Kashmir and their quest for the right to self-determination. On August 1, the Deputy Spokesperson for United Nations Secretary General Farhan Haq said the United Nations would continue to monitor the situation through its monitoring group on the ground, the United Nations Military Observers in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP). But a day later, the spokesperson for UN Secretary General Ban Ki moon, Stephane Dujarric, retracted Haq's statement. India has repeatedly told Pakistan to stop interfering in its internal matters and accused Islamabad of trying to 'destabilise the situation in the Kashmir valley'. New Delhi has maintained that the concerned authorities have been trying to control the unrest in Kashmir, and blamed Pakistan for promoting what it called "malicious propaganda" against India. (ANI)