DHAKA: India’s prime minister Manmohan Singh branded Thursday’s attack by militants on an Indian police station and army camp in disputed Kashmir as ‘barbaric’ but, without mentioning Pakistan, said it would not derail efforts to pursue peace through dialogue.

‘This is one more in a series of provocations and barbaric actions by the enemies of peace,’ Manmohan Singh said in a statement, reports dawn.com.

‘Such attacks will not deter us and will not succeed in derailing our efforts to find a resolution to all problems through a process of dialogue.’

A group of militants dressed in Indian army uniforms attacked an Indian police station located near the main city of Srinagar before attacking an army camp and killing eight people, Indian officials said.

The attack triggered calls in New Delhi for talks between the rival nations’ leaders at the weekend to be called.

Just a day before the attack, Singh said he would meet Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly for highly anticipated talks.

The Pakistani prime minister had also earlier expressed his wish to meet his Indian counterpart at the UN General Assembly to resume peace efforts between the two South Asian countries.

The talks are expected to discuss rising violence in the Kashmir region and to promote cordial relations between the neighbouring countries.

While Pakistani officials have not yet outlined the agenda for the Sharif-Singh meeting, Indian officials have said the issue of terrorism would figure prominently in the talks.

BDST: 2333 HRS, SEPT 26, 2013
RoR/SRS