Uri assault may be a reaction of atrocities in Kashmir: Nawaz

Rejects Indian allegations as ‘irresponsible’

LONDON: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Friday said the attack on an Indian military base in Indian occupied Kashmir (IOK) may be a reaction to Indian atrocities in the disputed Himalayan valley.

Eighteen Indian soldiers were killed by four militants in the attack on an Army Brigade Headquarters in the IOK’s Uri area near the Line of Control (LoC) on September 18.

Hours after the attack, India’s civil and military leaders squarely blamed a Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) with media commentators calling for a military response.



“The Uri attack can be the reaction of these atrocities, as the close relatives and near and dear ones of those killed and blinded over the last two months were hurt and outraged,” said Nawaz while talking to media after his arrival to London from New York where he addressed the UN General Assembly session.

Mentioning the brutalities being perpetrated against the innocent Kashmiris by the Indian forces in the occupied valley, PM Nawaz sad before accusing Pakistan, India should have looked at its atrocious role in the IOK.



The premier rejected the Indian allegations on Uri attack as ‘irresponsible’ and ‘without any evidence’. He also wondered how India had hurled accusations against Pakistan only hours after the Uri incident without holding any inquiry or investigation.

Nawaz said the achievement of lasting peace in the region was impossible without the resolution of Jammu and Kashmir dispute. “The whole world knows about the Indian atrocities in the IOK where around 108 people have so far been killed, over 150 blinded and thousands injured,’ he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 24^th, 2016.