Outraged over the beheading of soldiers at the LoC, India on Wednesday rubbished Pakistan's claim that its military was not involved in mutilating the bodies with Defence Minister Arun Jaitley asserting the denial of the "barbaric act" carried no credibility.
Jaitley, while replying to a question on India's possible response to Pakistan's action, said, "Have faith in your army".
"The denial itself carries no credibility because the entire gamut of circumstances clearly indicates that this barbaric act of first killing two of our soldiers and then mutilating their bodies has been carried out with the active participation of the (Pakistani) army," he told reporters.
The senior BJP minister said cover fire was provided to those who killed and mutilated the bodies of the two soldiers and Pakistan helped the perpetrators escape.
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He said such an act cannot be carried out without the "protection, participation or the actual indulgence" of the army.
"The fact that cover firing was provided to those who carried out this act..... they are helped to escape, in such a heavily guarded border where posts are within few meters of each other, this cannot happen without the protection or the participation or the actual indulgence of the army," the defence minister said.
Naib Subedar Paramjeet Singh and BSF Head Constable Prem Sagar were slain by Pakistan's Border Action Team (BAT) after sneaking 250 metres into the Indian territory in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir on May 1.
Indian Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) Lt Gen A K Bhatt had yesterday conveyed to his Pakistan counterpart that such a "dastardly and inhuman act" was beyond any norms of civility and merited "unequivocal condemnation and response".
Earlier today, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar summoned Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit and provided "enough evidence" on Pakistan army's involvement in the beheading of two security personnel.
Basit was summoned by Foreign Secretary to convey India's "outrage at the killing and the barbaric act of mutilation of the bodies of two Indian soldiers on May one, 2017 by Pakistani army personnel", External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Gopal Baglay said.
India also told Pakistan the killing of the soldiers was "a strong act of provocation" and in contravention of all norms of civilised conduct, he said.
Blood samples collected from the site matched with the blood of the two Indian security personnel, he said, adding the "blood trail" shows that the perpetrators who entered the Indian side from Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK), returned from where they came from.
Asserting that India has "enough evidence" that the act was committed by the Pakistan army regulars who crossed the LoC, Baglay said this has been shared with the Pakistan high commissioner.
