ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Sunday continued its diplomatic blitz to foil Indian propaganda on the Pulwama attack and rejected the pattern of “baseless allegations” by its eastern neighbour and termed the “aggressive rhetoric” counterproductive and a threat to regional peace.
Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua apprised the ambassadors of African countries and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) states on the Pulwama attack here at a special briefing at the Foreign Office, the spokesman said in a tweet.
Ms Janjua recalled the familiar pattern adopted by India blaming Pakistan soon after such incidents without investigation and pointed out to the deliberate anti-Pakistan frenzy being spurred in the neighbouring country. She said the baseless Indian allegations and aggressive rhetoric were counterproductive and a threat to regional peace.
Foreign Office Spokesman Dr Mohammad Faisal later responding to media queries on the absurd claims made by his counterpart at the Indian Ministry of External Affairs said Pakistan rejected the insinuations as India launched a spate of allegations shortly after the attack, without any investigation.
“These knee-jerk and pre-conceived accusations were nevertheless consistent with well-rehearsed tactics from Indian playbook after such incidents in the past,” the spokesman said.
He said Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) remained a proscribed entity in Pakistan since 2002 and Pakistan was implementing its obligations on the implementation of the sanctions.
Regarding the Indian assertions about “JeM claims of responsibility” and purported “video of the attacker”, the spokesperson questioned the selective and self-serving standards that India adhered to in that respect.
He drew attention to the clear dichotomy in Indian position. He pointed out that on the one hand, India accepted the unverified social media content as “gold standard”. In contrast, India chose denial when confronted with voluntary confessions and acceptance of responsibility by its serving naval commander Jadev for perpetrating terrorist violence in Pakistan.
“India needs to introspect and respond to questions about its security and intelligence lapses that led to this attack. India owes an explanation on reports of Adil Ahmed Dar’s arrest and custody since 2017,” he added.
He said Pakistan desired normalisation of relations with India and recalled that in his letter to Prime Minister Modi, Prime Minister Imran Khan followed his intention of taking two steps if India takes one, with the proposal for both foreign ministers to meet at the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly’s session and a comprehensive, tangible roadmap for normalisation of ties. It was India which cancelled the meeting on baseless pretexts, he added.
Similarly, he said, Pakistan’s Kartarpur initiative was another step aimed at improving people-to-people contacts and deescalating a vitiated environment.
“Bluster, belligerence and pursuit of expedient standards to suit internal political interests is both delusional and counterproductive. India must come out of the denial mode, end state repression against Kashmiri youth, address widespread alienation in IoK (Indian occupied Kashmir) and pursue the path of dialogue,” the spokesman said.
