Basit was summoned by Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar to convey India’s ‘outrage’. File photo

Simran Sodhi

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 3

India today summoned Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit and conveyed its “outrage” at the “barbaric act” of mutilating the bodies of two Indian soldiers by the Pakistan army.India also conveyed to Basit that India had concrete evidence to prove Pakistan army’s role in the acts. The Pakistani envoy denied the charges but said he would convey the contents of the demarche to his government.Mincing no words, India said it considered the mutilation of its soldiers’ bodies “a strong act of provocation”. “We have proof it was carried out by the Pakistan army. We have demanded from Pakistan that whoever from their army was behind this incident be punished,” Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Gopal Baglay said.Baglay pointed to the fact that blood samples collected from the Indian soldiers and trail of blood on the Roza Nala proved that the killers had returned across the Line of Control (LoC). Sources confirmed that “body parts of the soldiers were taken to the other side” and the trail of blood was theirs.“It was significant that the attack was preceded by cover fire from Pakistani posts in Battal sector (in the vicinity of Battal village). Blood samples of the Indian soldiers and the trail of blood on Roza Nala clearly show that the killers returned across the Line of Control,” said a statement released by the MEA.Pakistan, meanwhile, has denied the charges that its army was involved in these attacks and has sought “actionable evidence” from India to back its claim.

Pak students sent back

New Delh: Fifty Pakistani students visiting India on the invitation of an NGO were sent back on Wednesday after the government advised the latter against hosting them. “An NGO had invited Pakistani school students here. They came to India on the day the barbaric and inhuman act of killing and mutilating our soldiers happened,” an official said. PTI