NEW DELHI: Indiawill use "all instruments at its command" to respond to Pakistan overits alleged role in a deadly bombing in Kashmir, a government minister said onFriday, hours after Islamabad warned it would respond with "fullforce" if attacked. Tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbors haveescalated since a suicide car bomb in the disputed region of Kashmir killed 40Indian security personnel. Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammedclaimed responsibility for the attack.
Indian PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, who faces a general election by May, has said he hasgiven a free hand to security forces to avenge the killings in Kashmir."India will exercise all instruments at its command, whether it isdiplomatic or otherwise," Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in New Delhi."India has all options. You need not exhaust all options on day one. Thisis not a one-week battle. It's to be undertaken in various forms."
Referring toIslamabad's alleged support for Islamist militant groups, he added, "Ithink Pakistan is riding a tiger on this issue, and a tiger never spares itsown rider." Pakistan said on Friday it had seized Jaish's headquarters ina southern district of Punjab province bordering India. Jaish, a jihadist groupthat seeks the independence of all of Kashmir from India, has offices andinfrastructure in Pakistan where its leader, Maulana Masood Azhar, is based.
Authorities hadtaken over Jaish's headquarters in Bahawalpur and appointed an administrator tolook after its affairs, a government statement said. It said the headquartersand an attached seminary has 600 students and 70 teachers. India's top militarycommander in Kashmir has alleged that Pakistan's main Inter-ServicesIntelligence (ISI) spy agency was involved in the attack. "We have nointention to initiate war, but we will respond with full force to (a) fullspectrum threat that would surprise you," Pakistani army spokesman MajorGeneral Asif Ghafoor told reporters in the garrison city of Rawalpindi."Don't mess with Pakistan."
Offer of dialogue
Pakistani PrimeMinister Imran Khan urged India on Wednesday to share any actionable evidenceabout the bombing, offering full cooperation in investigating it. He alsooffered talks with India on all issues, including terrorism, which India hasalways sought as a prerequisite to any dialogue between the south Asianarch-rivals. India and Pakistan have fought two wars since independence in 1947over divided Kashmir, all of whose territory is claimed by both countries.
"Kashmir isa regional issue," Ghafoor said. "Let us talk about it. Let usresolve it." On Friday, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)said it has written to the game's governing body urging the cricket communityto sever ties with any nation from which "terrorism emanates". Theneighbors, who have not hosted a cricket series between them since 2013 due topolitical tensions, are set to clash in one of the most anticipated matches ofthe May 30-July 14 World Cup in England and Wales.
India accusesPakistani Islamist militant groups of infiltrating its part of mountainousKashmir to fuel an insurgency and help local separatist movements. The UnitedStates and India allege that the Pakistani army nurtures the militants to usethem as foreign policy tools to expand Islamabad's sway in India andAfghanistan. The army denies this.
One such group isLashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), which India blamed for a wave of attacks in Mumbai in2008 which killed 166 people, saying its founder, Hafiz Saeed, was themastermind. The United States has offered a $10 million reward for informationleading to his conviction over the Mumbai attacks. Pakistan has put him underhouse arrest several times and banned his groups, Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) andFalah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF). But Saeed remains free, able to roam aroundPakistan, make public speeches and deliver sermons. - Reuters