Killing of soldiers: India lodges protest
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New Delhi: Pakistan's High Commissioner Salman Bashir met Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai here on Wednesday during which the latter lodged a protest against yesterday's attack in which Pakistani troops crossed over the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch District and killed two soldiers.
Bashir was summoned by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in the wake of the Pakistan Army's inhuman and provocative killing of two Indian Army soldiers in the Mendhar Sector of Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday.
According to certain media reports, India may now review its ties with Pakistan. According to reports, Defence Minister A.K. Antony and National Security Advisor (NSA) Shiv Shiv Shankar Menon today briefed Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on the untoward incident that took place along the LoC.
The MEA is likely to issue a de-marche questioning Pakistan's shocking, counter-productive, distressing and aggressive action on Indian Army soldiers.
External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid has said that the Indian Government will take up the incident in a firm manner with the Pakistan Government.
The brutal killing of two Indian soldiers by the Pakistani Army has evoked outrage across the board, with India warning that its response "may have to go beyond the procedures".
Defence Minister AK Antony today condemned the killing of two soldiers by the Indian army as 'highly provocative' and said that the way one of the Indian soldier's bodies had been treated was 'inhuman'.
In a major escalation to the ceasefire violations and infiltration attempts, a group of Pakistan Army soldiers raided across the Line of Control in Mendhar Sector and killed two Indian soldiers and injured one more. The Pakistani troops attacked an area domination patrol party of the Indian Army.
The two dead Indian soldiers have been identified as Lance Naik Hemraj and Lance Naik Sudhakar Singh.
Pakistan denies its troops killed Indian soldiers
Pakistan on Wednesday denied an Indian claim that its troops killed two Indian soldiers in a cross-border attack that has raised tensions in South Asia, a military official said.
It was the first official reaction from Pakistan after India summoned Islamabad's envoy to New Delhi to protest at the killing of the two soldiers, one of whom was reportedly beheaded.
The Indian army says the soldiers died after a firefight erupted in disputed Kashmir around noon Tuesday as a patrol moving in fog discovered Pakistani troops about 500 metres (yards) inside Indian territory.
But the Pakistani senior official said Pakistan's director general of military operations had spoken to his Indian counterpart by telephone to deny that his troops were responsible.
"Pakistan rejected Indian army allegations of cross LoC (Line of Control) firing by Pakistani troops and killing any Indian soldier," the official said in a statement.
"Indian authorities were informed that Pakistan has carried out ground verification and checked and found nothing of this sort happened as being alleged by India," the official added.
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