The Pakistani foreign minister on Saturday accused India of promoting “terrorism” to destabilize the country.
India has denied allegations made by its archenemy Pakistan that the Indian government helped fund armed groups on Pakistani soil, and a State Department spokesman dismissed them as “made up” and “made up”.
Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Saturday accused India of promoting “terrorism” in order to destabilize the country and undermine its economic partnership with China. He said Islamabad would present its evidence to the United Nations and other international fora.
“This desperate attempt will find few buyers as the international community is aware of Pakistan’s tactics,” Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Anurag Srivastava said in a statement.
He added that Pakistan is self-funding rebels – a claim Islamabad also denies.
“We expect the international community to force India to end its terrorism and bring those responsible for the killing of thousands of innocent people in Pakistan to justice,” Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Twitter.
A statement by the Pakistani military said India “trained, hosted and launched terrorists in Pakistan” from 87 training camps – 66 in Afghanistan and 21 in India.
The nuclear armed neighbors, who have waged three wars since both gained independence from the colonial power of Great Britain, have long accused each other of arming rebels.
This desperate attempt will find few takers as the international community is aware of Pakistan’s tactics.
However, the announcement by the Pakistani foreign minister and military at a press conference in the capital Islamabad on Saturday provided an increased level of detail and specific allegations.
Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said Saturday that Islamabad had collected “irrefutable” evidence of India’s involvement in “terrorist” activities in Pakistan [File: Farooq Naeem/AFP]
“Irrefutable facts”
Pakistani officials said they had received documents showing that India met and funded members of the Pakistani Taliban as well as armed groups from southern Balochistan province who have taken responsibility for attacks on Chinese interests in an attempt to sabotage China’s $ 65 Belt and Road Investment Plan in Pakistan.
“We have irrefutable facts that we will present to the nation and the international community through this dossier,” said the Pakistani Foreign Minister.
Maj. Gen. Babar Iftikhar, who heads the Pakistani Armed Forces Media and Public Relations Office, presented some of the evidence in the dossier allegedly supporting India’s involvement in attacks in Pakistan, including receipts for funding and photos showing alleged perpetrators of attacks within You can see India’s Consulate in Jalalabad, Afghanistan.
We have irrefutable facts that we will present to the nation and the international community through this dossier
He also played an audio clip allegedly recording a conversation between an Indian secret service official and Allah Nazar, the leading leader of the separatist fighters in Baluch, southwest Pakistan.
The press conference took place the day after at least 10 civilians and five security guards were killed in cross-border bombardment between the two rivals on one of the deadliest days of the year.
India’s Hindu nationalist government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi stripped Kashmir of its limited autonomy last August [File: Anupam Nath/AP Photo]The Pakistani military said five civilians and one soldier were killed in shelling by Indian troops across the heavily militarized border between the Pakistani and Indian sides of Kashmir.
India, meanwhile, has long claimed that Pakistan founded, trained and financed secession groups operating in India-administered Kashmir, a Muslim-majority Himalayan region claimed by both countries.
Last August, India’s Hindu nationalist government stripped Kashmiri limited autonomy and placed the region under direct centralized rule – a move activists said they had deprived Kashmiri’s democratic right to elect local government.
Also on Sunday, the Afghan Foreign Ministry “emphatically rejected” the Pakistani allegations that its territory had been used for “acts of terrorism”.
“The government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan expressly declares that, as the main victims of terrorism, we are committed to a policy to combat all forms of terrorism without discrimination around the world and will never allow Afghan territory to be used for destructive activities against other countries” , it said in a statement.
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