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In statement, Foreign Office says regurgitating litany of allegations does not change the facts
Pakistan on Monday categorically rejected the Indian Ministry of External Affairs’ denial of “irrefutable evidence” proving Delhi’s sponsorship of terrorism.
“Fully exposed, India has typically resorted to sophistry, obfuscation and re-fabrication,” read a statement issued by the Foreign Office. “Bland denials and regurgitation of old litany of charges, however, will not change facts,” it added.
Noting that the dossier provided by Pakistan—in a joint press conference of both Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and armed forces spokesman Maj. Gen. Babar Iftikhar—documents India’s “active planning, promoting, aiding, abetting, financing and execution of terrorist activities against Pakistan,” it reiterated several of the allegations that had been voiced last week.
On Sunday, India had slammed the dossier as a “propaganda exercise.” The Indian External Affairs Ministry had claimed the proofs had “no credibility, are fabricated and represent figments of imagination.”
“Since 2001, Pakistan has faced more than 19,000 terrorist attacks on its soil and suffered 83,000 causalities. The direct economic losses have been upward of $126 billion. As a result of India’s sponsorship of terrorism, from across our borders, Pakistan continues to suffer immensely,” read the statement.
It said that India had often portrayed itself as a victim of terrorism in a bid to mislead the international community with terror-related allegations against Pakistan. “It has also conducted false flag operations in India-held Kashmir and inside India to malign Pakistan,” it alleged, adding that the dossier had removed this façade and the world could now clearly see the real face of India.
“The most familiar and undeniable face of India’s state-sponsorship of terrorism against Pakistan is Commander Kulbhushan Jadhav—caught red-handed in March 2016. His complicity in subversion, sabotage and terrorism in Pakistan is part of the incontrovertible evidence against India,” it said.
“The world is also familiar with ‘saffron terror’ orchestrated and unleashed by the RSS-BJP zealots against Muslims in India and against Pakistan,” it said, noting that the masterminds of the 2007 attacks on Hyderabad’s Mecca Masjid, Ajmer Sharif, and Samjhota Express had been granted full state protection and acquitted in complete travesty of justice after having confessed to India’s National Investigation Agency.
“Open threats to Pakistan by Indian civilian and military leaders, India’s sinister design to subvert the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, and public statements by noted Indian politicians and senior security officials on ‘teaching Pakistan’ a lesson through use of terrorism constitute further incriminating evidence,” it said.
Citing the presence of ISIL and Al Qaeda in India on the basis of recent U.N. reports, the Foreign Office said Delhi was fast emerging as a hotbed of U.N.-designated international terrorist organizations.”Recent revelations by FINCEN files illustrate how India uses its financial system for money laundering and other illegal activities such as terrorism financing—brazenly and with impunity,” it added.
“Use of terrorism as an instrument of state policy by India makes it culpable under international law, U.N. sanctions regime, and international counter-terrorism conventions,” it said, as it called on the global community to hold India to account and take practical steps to proceed against the Indian nationals involved in patronage of terrorist entities.
“We also expect the U.N. counter-terrorism bodies to proceed on the basis of concrete evidence provided by Pakistan and urge India to renounce use of terrorism as an instrument of state policy,” it said. “The U.N. must also play its part in dismantling of the Indian terrorist infrastructure, details of which have been provided in the dossier.”
On Saturday, after ceasefire violations along the Line of Control that targeted civilian populations in Pakistan, Islamabad provided a detailed dossier—including audio recordings—of Indian intelligence officers funding, training and encouraging militants to target Pakistanis in a bid to destabilize the country.