India piles pressure on Pakistan after Pulwama terror attack

New Delhi: India on Friday summoned Pakistan high commissioner Sohail Mahmood to the foreign ministry in New Delhi and demanded immediate and verifiable action against Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), which claimed responsibility for the Pulwama terror attack on Thursday.

“Pakistan must take immediate and verifiable action" against JeM for the Pulwama terror attack, Gokhale told Mahmood and that Islamabad "must immediately stop any groups or individuals associated with terrorism operating from its territories", said two people familiar with the conversations.

The foreign secretary also rejected the statement made by Pakistan's foreign ministry on Thursday that Islamabad rejected “any insinuation by elements in the Indian media and government that seek to link the attack to Pakistan without investigations".

This was followed the Pakistan-based JeM claiming responsibility for the Pulwama attack in which a suicide bomber rammed a vehicle laden with explosives into a bus ferrying CRPF jawans to Srinagar from Jammu. At least 40 soldiers were killed.

The Pulwama terror attack is seen as the worst in decades in Jammu and Kashmir.

The Pakistan high commissioner was summoned after a meeting of Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday morning. “We will give a befitting reply, our neighbour will not be allowed to destabilize us," Modi said after the meeting.

“India will engage with international community to ensure measures against terrorism are now adopted at the earliest," said finance minister Arun Jaitley, who was also present at the meeting.

Another fallout of the Pulwama terror attack was India removing the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status given to Pakistan under World Trade Organization rules.