Pakistan hits back at Indian minister’s 'baseless’ accusations around terrorism

Rebuking recent statements made by the Indian Minister of External Affairs targeting Islamabad, Pakistan has said that its neighbour's "latest tirade is a reflection of growing frustration over India’s failure to malign and isolate Pakistan".

"For last several years, India has engaged in a malicious campaign to mislead the international community through a fictitious narrative of victimhood and vile anti-Pakistan propaganda. This practice must stop," the Foreign Office (FO) said in a statement issued on Wednesday.

The statement comes after Indian Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar, speaking during a two-nation visit to Austria and Cyprus, said that since the epicentre of terrorism is located so close to India, "naturally, our experiences and insights are useful to others".

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Meanwhile, the FO said that India’s continued anti-Pakistan diatribe cannot hide its brazen involvement in fomenting terrorism, nor can it conceal the reality of state-sponsored terrorism in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).

"Instead of pointing fingers at others, India should itself end its involvement in terrorism, subversion and espionage against Pakistan," FO stated.

The foreign ministry noted that only a few weeks ago, a dossier was released containing irrefutable evidence that substantiated India’s involvement in the 2021 terrorist attack in a peaceful Lahore neighbourhood.

Pakistan rejects Indian minister's remarks on terrorism

"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 the 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 FO recalled.

Last year, Jaishankar said no other country "practices terrorism" the way Pakistan does.

"We have a neighbour. Like we are expert in IT (information technology), they are expert in 'international terrorists'. It is going on for years...but we could explain to world that terrorism is terrorism, today it is being done against us, tomorrow it will be against you," India Today quoted Jaishankar as saying.

Following these remarks, the FO said the statements "are yet another manifestation of the Indian leaders’ obsession to concoct facts with respect to terrorism for misleading the international community".

The FO said the statements are "a bid to mask India’s own well-known credentials as a state-sponsor of terrorism and a serial violator of human rights."