Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup on Thursday said India refused to accept cross-border terrorism as the “new normal” in its ties with Pakistan, PTI reported. Addressing reporters in New Delhi, Swarup accused Islamabad of fomenting terrorism. The official said India was awaiting a report on the Nagrota attack, where militants targeted an Army unit on Tuesday, before taking any action.
Swarup said, “The government has taken the Nagrota attack very seriously and will do what it feels is required for our national security.” He called on Pakistan to “stop cross-border terrorism” to facilitate negotiations.
He quashed allegations that there have been increased attacks since the Indian Army launched surgical strikes along the border. Swarup said, “It was our assessment that there was an imminent threat. This threat was successfully neutralised through the surgical strikes. We should not look only at what happened but also at what did not happen, what was prevented through successful neutralisation of terrorists.”
India has said that there has been an increase in ceasefire violations after it carried out surgical strikes on “terror launchpads”. Officials reported breaches on October 3, 4 and 5 along the border in the region. On September 18, militants had attacked an Indian Army installation in Uri, killing 19 soldiers. India had accused Pakistan of being involved in the attack, but Islamabad had dismissed the allegations as “baseless”.
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