Defence Minister will not apologise for statement, says government

 

New Delhi: The government has said that Defence Minister AK Antony's controversial statement in Parliament yesterday on the killing of five Indian soldiers in Kashmir was based on facts and that he would not issue an apology for it.

External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said today, "Whatever the Defence Minister said was carefully calibrated, considered, was a thoughtful after-reflection, and was based on facts by the Army," adding, "There is no question of him apologising." (Track live updates)

The main opposition party, the BJP, says Mr Antony owes the country an apology for letting Pakistan off the hook with the statement he made in Parliament on Tuesday. Mr Antony told Parliament that "20 heavily armed terrorists along with persons dressed in Pakistani Army uniforms" killed the Indians after crossing the Line of Control at Poonch, 200 km south of Srinagar.

The opposition is stressing that Mr Antony's detailing of the deadly ambush differed from the assessment of the Indian army, which initially blamed the Pakistani army for the killings. Mr Khurshid said that initial assessment in an Army press release was a mistake and was later corrected.

"Pakistan is exploiting the divide inside our Parliament...Whether they were the Pakistan Army or terrorists in uniform, the responsibility for attack is Pakistan's," the minister said.

In the Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj, leader of the opposition, said, "Our Defence Minister has given a clean chit to Pakistan...he must apologise to the nation."

The uproar that followed forced Parliament temporarily to adjourn.

The Defence Minister later said he "made the statement on basis of whatever information" he had and promised to update Parliament after the Army Chief General Bikram Singh's Kashmir visit today.

The Pakistan government has denied any links to the attack.

The PM is meeting senior BJP leaders at his residence; sources in the Congress say he will inform these leaders that despite their urging, he will not alter plans to hold talks next month with the newly-elected Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The leaders are likely to hold separate talks at the UN General Assembly session in New York next month.

On record, Mr Khurshid said it was too early to say whether the meeting in New York would take place.