Don't think ties will be unaffected, India tells Pakistan

New Delhi, Jan 15 (IANS) Pakistan must not think that its “brazen denials” over the brutal killing of two Indian soldiers will not affect bilateral relations, the Indian government said Tuesday.

“It should not be felt that the brazen denials and the lack of appropriate response from Pakistan will be ignored and that bilateral relations will be unaffected and that there will be business as usual,” External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid told the media.

Reading out a prepared statement, he added that the Jan 8 killings violated “all norms of conduct” and made India doubt Pakistan’s sincerity in continuing bilateral relations.

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He added that the Jan 8 brutality near the Jammu and Kashmir border – with one soldier beheaded and his head taken away and the other’s body mutilated – was “a grave provocation” and was unacceptable.

“The government has deplored this grave provocation … and called on the government of Pakistan to (order) a proper investigation into this unacceptable action,” Khurshid said.

He spoke shortly after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh declared that there could be no more business as usual with Pakistan.

In response to a question, the minister declined to specify what steps India proposed to take.

He said the “specifics of what might be necessary or found useful are decisions that will be taken as we move forward”.

“We are extremely determined and serious,” Khurshid added.

He said that it was important that there must be a convergence of view within the government that reflects large sections of the public opinion and this “should be known to everyone here and also across the border”.