Mark Sedwill, National Security Advisor (NSA) of UK, spoke to his Indian counterpart NSA Ajit Doval on Thursday, March 7, and expressed solidarity with India in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack, in which over 40 CRPF jawans were killed in Jammu and Kasmir's Pulwama district on February 14. Sedwill has conveyed to offer assistance to India, including intelligence-sharing and also dealing with any form of terrorism.
"All assistance in dealing with any form of terrorism will be extended to India bilaterally through counter-terrorism cooperation, intelligence-sharing and by bringing the perpetrators of terror attacks to justice," the British NSA said.
Earlier, US NSA John Bolton had spoken to Doval over the prevailing situation between nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan following the February 14 Pulwama attack and the retaliatory Indian air strikes on JeM terror camps in Pakistan.
IN A NUTSHELL
The phone conversation between the two NSAs came amid heightened tension between India and Pakistan after the Pulwama terror attack. Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed claimed responsibility for the attack. In retaliation, India carried out a pre-dawn airstrike on a JeM terror camp in Balakot sector at 3:30 am, reportedly killing 200-300 terrorists.
A day after, Pakistan Air Force jets entered Indian airspace near LoC and dropped bombs in the country's territory. Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman was captured on February 27 after his MiG-21 Bison was hit by the Pakistan Army across the Line of Control (LoC). Next day, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan announced that Abhinandan would be released on March 1 as a "peace gesture".
