Pakistan says attack in Indian held Kashmir not to affect PM’s summit

The National Assembly was told on Friday that a recent militant attack on Indian security forces in the Indian-held Kashmir will not affect the upcoming summit meeting of Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh.

Indian officials say the militants Thursday attacked a police station near the Line of Control Pakistan and killed nine people including policemen.

Chief Minister of the Indian-occupied Kashmir, Omar Abdullah, claimed the three gunmen had entered Kashmir from Pakistan.

The attack had raised concerns at the meeting of the prime ministers of the two countries in New York on the sideline of the UN General Assembly on September 29.

Hours after the attack, India had stated the attack would not derail the meeting, keeping hopes alive for the peace dialogue between the two uneasy neighbours.

Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Shaikh Aftab Ahmad told the National Assembly or Lower House of the parliament on Friday that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will meet Manmohan Singh as per schedule and the Kashmir attack will nit affect the talks.

He said that anti-Pakistan elements are linking yesterday’s incident with the Line of Control (LoC) violations in a bid to derail the dialogue process.

“These elements will not succeed in their nefarious designs,” the minister said, hoping that a positive outcome will emerge from the meeting‚ which will help move forward dialogue process between the two countries to resolve all outstanding issues.

To a question he informed the House that nine military and four civilians have been killed due to unprovoked Indian firing on Line of Control in recent months.

The Minister said overall 59 firing incidents took place at LoC which also injured 48 persons including 13 military personnel.

He said five causalities were reported last year in 24 incidents of firing on LoC.

Foreign Office spokesman Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry has also expressed the hope that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s proposed meeting with his Indian counterpart would help reduce tensions and resume peace process between the two countries.

He told state radio by the phone from New York‚ that international community is keenly following the move for promotion of peace and stability in South Asia.

The spokesman said Pakistani delegation has shared a number of peace proposals with India and is looking forward to its response.

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Posted by Tahir Khan on Sep 27 2013. Filed under Latest News, National, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.