ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Sunday continued its diplomatic blitz to foil Indianpropaganda on the Pulwama attack and rejected the pattern of “baselessallegations” by its eastern neighbour and termed the “aggressive rhetoric”counterproductive and a threat to regional peace.
Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua apprised the ambassadors of Africancountries and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) states on thePulwama attack here at a special briefing at the Foreign Office, thespokesman said in a tweet.
Ms Janjua recalled the familiar pattern adopted by India blaming Pakistansoon after such incidents without investigation and pointed out to thedeliberate anti-Pakistan frenzy being spurred in the neighbouring country.She said the baseless Indian allegations and aggressive rhetoric werecounterproductive and a threat to regional peace.
Foreign Office Spokesman Dr Mohammad Faisal later responding to mediaqueries on the absurd claims made by his counterpart at the Indian Ministryof External Affairs said Pakistan rejected the insinuations as Indialaunched a spate of allegations shortly after the attack, without anyinvestigation.
“These knee-jerk and pre-conceived accusations were nevertheless consistentwith well-rehearsed tactics from Indian playbook after such incidents inthe past,” the spokesman said.
He said Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) remained a proscribed entity in Pakistansince 2002 and Pakistan was implementing its obligations on implementationof the sanctions.
Regarding the Indian assertions about “JeM claims of responsibility” andpurported “video of the attacker”, the spokesperson questioned theselective and self-serving standards that India adhered to in that respect.
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He drew attention to the clear dichotomy in Indian position. He pointed outthat on the one hand, India accepted the unverified social media content as“gold standard”. In contrast, India chose denial when confronted withvoluntary confessions and acceptance of responsibility by its serving navalcommander Jadev for perpetrating terrorist violence in Pakistan.
“India needs to introspect and respond to questions about its security andintelligence lapses that led to this attack. India owes an explanation onreports of Adil Ahmed Dar’s arrest and custody since 2017,” he added.
He said Pakistan desired normalisation of relations with India and recalledthat in his letter to Prime Minister Modi, Prime Minister Imran Khanfollowed his intention of taking two steps if India takes one, with theproposal for both foreign ministers to meet at the side-lines of the UnitedNations General Assembly’s session and a comprehensive, tangible roadmapfor normalisation of ties. It was India which cancelled the meeting onbaseless pretexts, he added.
Similarly, he said, Pakistan’s Kartarpur initiative was another step aimedat improving people-to-people contacts and deescalating a vitiatedenvironment.
“Bluster, belligerence and pursuit of expedient standards to suit internalpolitical interests is both delusional and counterproductive. India mustcome out of the denial mode, end state repression against Kashmiri youth,address widespread alienation in IoK (Indian occupied Kashmir) and pursuethe path of dialogue,” the spokesman said.
