December 17, 2001	Monday	Shawwal 1, 1422

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ISLAMABAD, Dec 16: Pakistan on Sunday refuted allegations levelled by India that the attack on Indian parliament had been carried out by the activists of Jaish-i-Muhammad on the instigation of Inter-Services Intelligence agency.

Talking to Dawn on phone, President’s spokesman Maj Gen Rashid Qureshi rejected Delhi police report, terming it a “baseless” and “concocted”. The report has implicated Inter-Services Intelligence in the attack.

“All these allegations are unfounded and fabricated,” Maj Gen Qureshi said and reiterated the offer of cooperation made by Islamabad to New Delhi soon after the attack for holding a joint enquiry.

“We are ready to give a firm assurance that if on the basis of a joint enquiry anybody based in Pakistan was found involved in the attack we will proceed against him,” the president’s spokesman said.

He pointed out that President Pervez Musharraf had already condemned the attack on the Indian Parliament as an act of terrorism and had assured Pakistan’s full cooperation in its investigation.

When pointed out that Indian government had also rejected an offer made by the United States to spare Federal Bureau of Investigation for carrying out the investigation, he said, involvement of FBI would have eliminated the chances of fabrication of evidence.

He took serious exception to the tone and tenor adopted by the Indian government functionaries in the wake of the attack. The Indian leaders have started hurling threats of aggression, something which was totally uncalled for and unacceptable for Pakistan, he added.

Pakistan armed forces, he said, were fully alive to the situation and prepared to thwart any act of aggression by India.

New Delhi police commissioner in a press conference, televised live on all satellite channels earlier in the day, alleged that ISI had instigated Jaish-i-Muhammad to attack Indian parliament.

The Delhi police had also alleged that the terrorists who had been killed in the attack had got training from Pakistan.