India says Punjab attackers came from Pakistan, but talks on for now

By Nigam Prusty NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Gunmen who stormed a police station and killed seven people in India's Punjab came from Pakistan, the Indian government said on Thursday, but it gave no indication that a plan for bilateral high-level security talks have been jeopardized by the attack. Citing a preliminary analysis of data from GPS tracking devices carried by the gunmen, Home Minister Rajnath Singh told parliament the three men crossed over via a river that criss-crosses between Pakistan and India. In a statement shorn of the nationalist rhetoric the ruling party is known for, Singh warned of a forceful response to any attempt to undermine India's security, but did not specify what action was being taken after Monday's attack. Pakistan rejected the assertion that the gunmen came from Pakistan, calling it "unsubstantiated and unwarranted" and asking India to share any "concrete evidence" it had. "Pakistan believes that (the) Home Minister's provocative comments are a threat to the peace and security of the region," its Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. "To tackle terrorism, a cooperative approach is required. Blame game and finger-pointing would be unhelpful." Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his counterpart Nawaz Sharif agreed on July 10 that the two countries' National Security Advisers (NSAs) should meet in New Delhi to discuss "all issues connected to terrorism", signalling a thaw in ties after Modi called off peace talks almost a year ago. No date was set. By calling the meeting a discussion on terrorism rather than peace talks, Modi may have partly insulated himself from the inevitable pressure to cancel after every cross-border raid. Singh said that, in the past month alone, there had been five attempts by Pakistan-based militant groups to cross the border in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, part of a region claimed by both countries. Monday's attack surprised security forces because it was further south in previously peaceful Punjab where the border fence is less heavily guarded. Preliminary analysis of GPS data indicates the men crossed the Ravi river, which is swollen by heavy rains that could have made it harder for security patrols to detect the group, Singh said. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who is also the government's main spokesman, said the evidence the group came from across the border was "overwhelmingly conclusive". He said a decision on the NSA talks was part of "a diplomatic strategy" and would be taken by the government and the foreign ministry. (Reporting by Nigam Prusty, with additional reporting by Rajesh Kumar Singh and Krista Mahr; Writing by Frank Jack Daniel; Editing by Douglas Busvine and Ian Geoghegan)