Pakistan rejects India's 'frivolous accusations' of terrorism

Islamabad has rejected the "frivolous accusations" levelled against Pakistan by Indian Minister for External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, to malign the country with terrorism, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) spokesperson said on Wednesday.

Earlier this week, Jaishankar made a veiled attack on Pakistan during a press conference flanked by his Austrian counterpart Alexander Schallenberg in Vienna.

“We spoke on the threats to international peace and security that are posed by terrorism, including its cross-border practices, violent extremism, radicalisation and fundamentalism. Their effects cannot be contained within a region especially so when they are deeply connected to narcotics and illegal weapons trade, and other forms of international crime. Since the epicentre is located so close to India, naturally our experiences and insights are useful to others,” he alleged.

Responding to media queries regarding a series of recent statements made by the Indian minister, Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zehra Baloch said: “Pakistan rejects the baseless and frivolous accusations made by the Indian External Affairs Minister. His latest tirade is a reflection of growing frustration over India’s failure to malign and isolate Pakistan.”

A statement released by the FO quoted the spokesperson as saying that India in the last several years has engaged in a malicious campaign to mislead the international community through a fictitious narrative of victimhood and vile anti-Pakistan propaganda. He said that the practice "must stop".

"India’s continued anti-Pakistan diatribe cannot hide its brazen involvement in fomenting terrorism on Pakistan’s soil; nor can it conceal the reality of state-sponsored terrorism in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK)," the spokesperson further stated. 

She demanded India end its involvement in terrorism, subversion and espionage against Pakistan, instead of pointing fingers at others.

The statement issued by the MOFA referred to the dossier released by authorities in Islamabad on India-sponsored terrorism in Pakistani territory, saying that it contained "irrefutable evidence" that substantiated India’s involvement in the 2021 terrorist attack in a peaceful Lahore neighbourhood of Johar Town. 

"From the death of over 40 Pakistani nationals on Indian soil in the 2007 Samjhota Express tragedy to the arrest of Kulbhushan Jadhav, a serving commander of Indian Navy from within Pakistan in 2016, the evidence of Indian involvement in terrorism and sabotage is irrefutable and spans over decades and geographies," the statement read. 

'India has become a rogue state'

Lambasting New Delhi for its "nefarious terror activities in Pakistan," State Minister for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar on December 14 termed India a "rogue state". She said that though it projects itself as the "greatest victim" of terrorism, it is the "perpetrator of it."

"We are also at a unique place because nobody is willing to call the bluff. Nobody is willing to call out the clear simple glaring hypocrisy in this whole act," said Khar in a press conference at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Islamabad.

Khar's presser came a day after Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said that India's footprints are seen in all terror activities carried out in Pakistan and New Delhi's activities have gone "beyond that of an enemy state" just to hide its atrocities in IIOJK.

The state minister said that it was important for everyone who speaks of "justice and the universality of the value system to call a spade a spade".

"This particular effort is to bring to the attention of the world and to expect them and really encourage them to see things based on evidence as they are," said Khar.

She added that Foreign Secretary Asad Majeed Khan had called the members of the diplomatic corps in Islamabad and shared Pakistan's dossier on the 2012 Johar Town blast — that left six dead and 17 injured.

"This dossier has detailed evidence of how India has been found to be fully behind this incident that led to this loss of life," Khar said on the Johar Town blast.

Unlike India, Pakistan does not blame one country or the other and Islamabad has always spoken on important matters when it has strong evidence, she said.

"We waited till we had strong hard evidence to be making the case we are making today," the state minister said. She added that the Lahore incident was clear evidence of a terrorist attack which was "planned and supported by India".

"It reflects India’s persistent hostility towards Pakistan and the use of terrorist proxies to achieve the nefarious objectives," Khar said. She added that Islamabad believes that such objectives would harm Indians as well because when one tries to burn their neighbour’s house, the fire will come and burn them as well.