Canada strongly condemns the suicide bombing on Thursday of a paramilitary convoy in Indian-controlled Kashmir which killed 41 people, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said.
“Canada offers its deepest condolences and profound sympathy to the families and friends of those killed and injured in the attack,” Freeland said in a statement, adding her voice to a number of Western leaders who also condemned the attack.
“Canada remains steadfast in its support of the global fight against terrorism. We stand in solidarity with the government and the people of India in the fight to prevent radicalization and defeat terrorism in all its forms.”
The suicide bombing, which targeted India’s paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force, has ratcheted up tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours who have already fought two wars over the disputed Himalayan territory.
India’s prime minister warned Friday of a “crushing response” to the suicide bombing, which was the deadliest in the divided region’s volatile history.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi placed the blame for Thursday’s bombing squarely on neighbouring Pakistan, which India accuses of supporting rebels in Kashmir.
“Our neighbouring country thinks such terror attacks can weaken us, but their plans will not materialize,” he said, adding that government forces have been “given total freedom” to deal with the militants.
“Security forces have been given permission to take decisions about the timing, place and nature of their response,” he said.
Pakistan’s ruling party rejected Modi’s allegation, saying India’s ruling party was blaming Pakistan for the attack for political gains in the upcoming national election.
“The Indian allegations against Pakistan over yesterday’s incident are part of the election campaign,” said Naeemul Haq, a senior leader of the Tehreek-e-Insaf party, which came to power in last year’s parliamentary election.
He said the violence in Kashmir was “the result of the brutalities of Indian occupied forces in Kashmir.”
A demonstrator reacts next to burning cars during a protest against the attack on a bus that killed at least 41 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel in south Kashmir on Thursday, in Jammu February 15, 2019. (Mukesh Gupta/REUTERS)
Rebels, many of whom want Muslim-majority Kashmir united with Pakistan, have been fighting Indian control since 1989.
About 70,000 people have been killed in the uprising and the ensuing Indian crackdown. Last year’s death toll was the highest since 2009, with at least 260 militants, 160 civilians and 150 government forces killed.
In Thursday’s attack, a local Kashmiri militant rammed an explosive-laden van into a bus travelling in the paramilitary convoy. In addition to the dead, the attack wounded nearly two dozen other soldiers, India’s paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force spokesman Sanjay Sharma said.
Police said the bus was destroyed and at least five other vehicles were damaged.
The Greater Kashmir newspaper reported that militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed claimed responsibility. A pre-recorded video circulated on social media sites showed the purported attacker in combat clothes and surrounded by guns and grenades.
Unlike Ottawa, which did not assign blame for the attack, the U.S. singled out Pakistan in a statement condemning the attack.
“The United States calls on Pakistan to end immediately the support and safe haven provided to all terrorist groups operating on its soil, whose only goal is to sow chaos, violence, and terror in the region,” the statement from the White House press secretary’s office said.
With files from The Associated Press
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