India escalated anti-Pakistan campaign after Islamabad's unveiling of dossier: FO

Published November 24, 2020
Foreign Office spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri.   — Photo courtesy RadioPak/File
Foreign Office spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri. — Photo courtesy RadioPak/File

The Foreign Office (FO) on Tuesday said the Indian government had escalated its anti-Pakistan campaign — marked by false narratives, concocted evidence and orchestration of false flag operations — after Islamabad made public a dossier containing "irrefutable proof" of Indian sponsorship of terrorism in the country.

The statement was issued in response to media queries regarding the reported briefing to a group of foreign envoys at the Indian Ministry of External Affairs on the so-called attempted terrorist attack in Nagrota district in occupied Kashmir, FO spokesman Zahid Hafeez Chaudri said.

A day earlier, India's Foreign Secretary Harsh Shringla had briefed a select group of foreign envoys about Pakistan's alleged role in the incident that occurred on November 19, Times of India reported.

"The purported briefing by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs is yet another attempt to mischievously implicate Pakistan in some alleged planned attack occupied Kashmir," the FO spokesman said.

"The completely baseless and unsubstantiated Indian allegations are nothing but a reflection of desperate efforts on India’s part to salvage its false terrorism narrative against Pakistan, and to divert international attention from its state terrorism in the occupied valley and state-sponsorship of terrorism against Pakistan.

"Pakistan has been consistently sensitising the international community regarding the possibility of India undertaking a false flag operation with the intention to implicate Pakistan and jeopardising regional peace and security. We forewarn the world community once again."

The spokesman added that Pakistan will continue exposing India and will not let the world community be misled by Indian propaganda.

"The world community, including the United Nations counter-terrorism mechanisms, must act on the dossier presented by Pakistan with incontrovertible evidence of Indian state sponsorship of terrorism," he said.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday had claimed that a terrorist plot was “thwarted” after four “terrorists” belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) were “neutralised” by Indian security forces.

A day later, the FO had rejected as “unsubstantiated” Delhi’s allegations linking Pakistan to the purported botched terrorist attack in occupied Kashmir.

The Indian Chargé d’Affaires was summoned to the FO to reject the allegations that were initially levelled by the Indian premier and repeated by the Ministry of External Affairs when the Pakistani envoy in Delhi was called for registering protest over the so-called planned attack.

The FO said Indian allegations were meant to “mischievously implicate” Pakistan in what is being claimed as a “foiled attack” in Nagrota in occupied Kashmir.

China had also rushed to shield Pakistan from Modi’s allegations by recalling “positive contributions” made by Islamabad against global terrorism.

“China appreciates the positive contribution by Pakistan to the international counter-terrorism cause, firmly supports Pakistan in cracking down terrorist forces. Attempts that aim to sabotage [China-Pakistan Economic Corridor] are doomed to fail,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lijian Zhao had said.

Dossier on Indian terrorism in Pakistan

Earlier this month, Pakistan made public a dossier containing "irrefutable proof" of the Indian sponsorship of terrorism in Pakistan and called on the world to stop India’s rogue actions for saving the region’s peace and security.

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, accompanied by military spokesman Maj Gen Babar Iftikhar, while sharing salient features of the dossier with the media at a presser at the Foreign Office, emphasised that the world could not afford to ignore India’s “rogue behaviour” and said Pakistan reserved the right to defend itself in every possible way.

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Pakistan has accused its arch-rival neighbour of aiding and abetting terrorism for destabilising the region in the past as well, but this time the allegations are backed by specific evidence of financing, training, harbouring, and weapons supply in the shape of copies of correspondence, bank transactions and communication intercepts.

“The [specific] evidence presented by Pakistan provides a concrete proof of Indian financial and material sponsorship of multiple terrorist organisations, including UN-designated terrorist organisations Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, Balochistan Liberation Army and Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan,” Qureshi explained.

The foreign minister earlier told the presser that the recent spike in terrorist attacks, especially the incidents in Quetta and Peshawar, were the manifestation of India’s ‘grand design’. He said India was doing so to destabilise Pakistan, disrupt its journey towards economic revival, cause political upheaval, and sabotage CPEC.

These actions, the minister said, were being directed by a special cell that works directly under Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He said the cell had so far distributed Rs22 billion among the terrorist groups.

Later, Prime Minister Imran Khan had expressed the hope that the world after looking at the “irrefutable evidence” given by Pakistan would not be able to remain “indifferent or silent” and would “force India to end its terrorism and bring to justice those responsible for killing thousands of innocent people in Pakistan”.

“Our resilient and courageous security agencies and forces will continue to give their all to protect our people,” he underscored.

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