Islamabad, Sept. 29: Pakistan's Prime Minister today condemned the "naked aggression of Indian forces" along the Line of Control but its army and foreign ministry denied New Delhi's claim of having conducted surgical strikes on terrorist "launch pads" along the frontier.
A military spokesperson said India had carried out cross-border firing and tried to pass it off as a surgical strike.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif condemned the "unprovoked and naked aggression of Indian forces" and stressed that the military was capable of thwarting "any evil design to undermine the sovereignty of Pakistan".
Foreign ministry spokesperson Nafees Zakariya accused India of a ceasefire violation and said this continued a pattern.
"Pakistan also rejects the baseless Indian claim that it has carried out surgical strikes into Pakistan. The Indian side has chosen to share this falsified claim with the Indian media," Zakariya said.
The military spokesperson said: "This quest by the Indian establishment to create media hype by re-branding cross-border fire as a surgical strike is a fabrication of the truth. Pakistan has made it clear that if there is a surgical strike on Pakistani soil, (it) will be strongly responded (to)."
Sharif's spokesperson told The Telegraph: "Sharif is being briefed regularly on the situation along the LoC by the security institutions."
He said that Sharif's national security adviser, General (retired) Nasser Janjua, had handed in a comprehensive report on the situation along the LoC to the Prime Minister's Office.
He added that the Prime Minister had shown satisfaction at the Pakistani armed forces' level of preparedness to match any provocation by Indian security forces.
Cricketer turned politician Imran Khan, who plans a sit-in near Sharif's family home in Raiwind on Lahore's outskirts tomorrow, said he would "send a strong message to (Indian Prime Minister) Narendra Modi tomorrow".
Zakariya said India's "falsified, concocted and irresponsible" statements could only escalate the already fragile security situation in the region, especially following what he described as Indian brutalities and war crimes in Kashmir.
He accused New Delhi of deliberately escalating tension along the LoC to divert attention from the deteriorating situation in Kashmir.
"We can assure India that any such aggression will not go unanswered or unpunished. Pakistan is ready to defend its people and territory from any Indian aggression or Indian State-sponsored terrorism on Pakistani soil," he said.
While Pakistan's private and state-run TV channels kept flashing the developments, the man on the street remained calm.
"I can only laugh out loud at this absurd claim by the Indian military. It is simply not possible - we are not asleep - it is no child's play," Muhammad Imran, owner of a garments shop in Islamabad, said.
Arshad Hussain, a local government official, accused India of "trying to provoke Pakistan and get us into a hostile move as the precursor to fomenting a war".
"They know us - they know our capability - but such childish acts on the part of an administration run by a person like Modi, whose past is well known to everyone, cannot be ruled out," Hussain said.
Today's development caused Pakistan's stock exchange index to fall by 129 points after rising by 500 points in the morning.
General Raheel Sharif, the army chief, was at an event organised by the Frontier Force regiment in the garrison town of Abbottabad.
