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EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, June 16: Even as international pressure builds on Pakistan, India has demanded that Islamabad must identify and punish the culprits in its armed forces who were responsible for the torture and killing of seven Indian soldiers.
The war of words between New Delhi and Islamabad stepped up a notch with India accusing Pakistan of breaching the Geneva Convention by indulging in wilful torture and killing of Indian personnel and Islamabad rejecting the charge.
For the second time since the military operations began in Kargil, Pakistan's Deputy High Commissioner Akbar Zeb was summoned to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Tuesday and told that the culprits be punished without delay.
New Delhi has demanded a full account of the date, place and circumstances of capture, period of detention and particulars concerning the wounds and cause of death of all the seven Army personnel.
India had registered its protest earlier too when IAF pilot Ajay Ahuja's body showed signs of torture after it washanded back. The bodies of six more Indian Army personnel, including Lt S Kalia, which showed signs of torture had been handed over by the Pakistan Army on June 9.
Rejecting the Indian charges, the Pakistan Foreign Ministry said in a statement issued in Islamabad today that India was trying to further vitiate the ``prevailing tense atmosphere''.
Dismissing the charge that Pakistan had violated the Geneva Convention, Islamabad said New Delhi was attempting to ``justify the dangerous military escalation by India along the LoC''.
Meanwhile, buoyed by what it sees as a rap on the knuckles delivered to Sharif by Clinton, New Delhi is waiting to see if Islamabad decides to call off its Kargil misadventure or chooses to shrug off the growing international disapproval of its actions.
Reacting to the Clinton-Sharif interaction, an MEA spokesman said Washington's demand that Pakistan immediately pull out its forces from Indian territory was a reflection of the international recognition that the ``cause of theproblem is the intrusion by Pakistani infiltrators''.
Whatever may be New Delhi's expectations, so far there have been no indications that Islamabad is in any mood to see reason. If there has been any kind of a rethink in Islamabad, there has been no evidence of it either during the Jaswant Singh-Sartaj Aziz talks in New Delhi last week or in statements emanating from Islamabad.
While there is a quiet satisfaction here that the world has for once seen through Pakistan's tactics, there is also the disquieting realisation that the political establishment in Pakistan will carry on its misadventure oblivious to the growing global disapprobation.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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