KL NEWS NETWORK
SRINAGAR
In an interesting twist to the September 29, 2016 claims of “surgical strikes long the Line of Control in Kashmir”, a newspaper in Pakistan on Friday reported that the Indian Foreign Secretary has itself denied that its army carried out any such action. However, Delhi rejected terming the report as “concocted”.
Quoting sources, Pakistan’s reputed daily, The News International, said, “the Indian foreign secretary in a recent meeting with German ambassador in New Delhi is said to have admitted that there was no ‘surgical strike’ undertaken by the Indian Army inside Azad Kashmir.”
According to the news report, this “startling information” has been shared by the German authorities during a recent official meeting with Pakistan Embassy officials in Berlin.
“The Pakistani authorities had been officially conveyed by its mission in Berlin that during an official meeting with the German foreign office, Pakistan was told about India’s fake ‘surgical strikes’,” the newspaper said. “Pakistani mission had been told that during a formal meeting on the issue of the on-going India-Pakistan stand-off between German Ambassador to India Dr Martin Ney and Indian FS Subramaniam Jaishankar in New Delhi, ‘the Indian Foreign Secretary has categorically denied and said that there was no ‘surgical strike’ undertaken by Indian Army inside Azad Kashmir, Pakistan’.”
However, the Union Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Vikas Swarup strongly refuted the report calling it “concocted” and “baseless” in a statement.
“The German ambassador D Martin Ney was in the group of foreign envoys briefed by the Foreign Secretary on September 29 on the Surgical Strikes. They have had no further conversation since on this subject,” Swarup added.
The News International further said that on October 4, 2016, Minister Political Ms Rukhsana Afzal from the Embassy of Pakistan, Berlin, was scheduled to visit the German Foreign Office to raise the issue of atrocities in Kashmir where she met the Senior Desk Officer of Af-Pak Division, Ms Simone Stemmler and during the meeting Ms Karen Goebels and Mr Jens Wagner from the German Foreign Ministry were also present.
“When Ms Rukhsana raised the issue of Uri’s false flag and the so-called ‘surgical strike’, Ms Simmone confided with the Pakistani diplomat that during a formal meeting on the issue of on-going India-Pakistan stand-off between German Ambassador to India Dr Martin Ney and Indian FS Subramaniam Jaishankar in New Delhi, ‘the Indian Foreign Secretary has categorically denied and said that there was no ‘surgical strike’ undertaken by Indian army inside Azad Kashmir, Pakistan’,” the report claimed.
