Pakistan, India tensions to fade if Kashmir issue is resolved: Basit

NEW DELHI: Pakistan High Commissioner to New Delhi Abdul Basit on Friday said that things between Pakistan and India would settle down if the Kashmir dispute is resolved.

The Pakistani envoy's words come amid heightened tensions between the two countries over the occupied valley for over three months now.

In an interview given to an Indian magazine, Abdul Basit said if India wishes to describe cross-border firing at the Line of Control (LoC) as 'surgical strikes', then let it be. The Pakistani diplomat categorically stated that no strikes were conducted in Azad Kashmir on September 29.

"Pakistan would have immediately responded, had there been any surgical strikes carried out on that day," he added.

On September 29, India claimed to have conducted surgical strikes inside Pakistan adding that several terrorists were killed in the military action conducted inside Pakistani territory.

The claims were not only rebuffed by Pakistan and the international media, but also prompted demands from some Indian political leaders for New Delhi to substantiate the claims with evidence.

The Modi government drew criticism after the Pakistani military took a bus full of local and international journalists to the border area in order to show them the ground facts.

After having failed to substantiate the claims, PM Narendra Modi on October 5 barred leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party from talking to anyone over the strikes.

At a cabinet meeting he chaired in New Delhi, Modi was unable to answer questions by the opposition which asked him to prove that the attack on the LoC was a surgical strike.