Pakistan accuses India of involvement in terrorism, sabotage in the country

Pakistan on Wednesday launched a diplomatic drive to highlight what it called India's alleged involvement in terrorism and sabotage in the country.

Foreign Secretary Asad Majeed briefed Islamabad-based foreign diplomats while Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar addressed a press conference on the issue, a day after Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah alleged that India was involved in a blast outside Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed's residence in Lahore last year.

According to the Foreign Office, Majeed shared a "dossier" of India's alleged involvement in the blast outside Saeed's residence in Lahore on June 23 last year.

Talking to reporters, Khar alleged that "no country had used terrorism better than India" as she asked the international community to take note of New Delhi's attempts to undermine Pakistan's peace and security.

She claimed that there was "undeniable, indisputable" evidence about Indian involvement in terrorism in Pakistan.

"This particular effort is to bring attention to the attention of the world and to expect them and encourage them to see things based on evidence," she said.

She also confirmed that the foreign secretary invited the foreign diplomats and shared a "dossier" with them on the issue.

"This dossier, as you already know, has details, evidence...," she said. "We waited till we had strong hard evidence to be making the case we are making today."

India has previously rejected Pakistan's allegations that it was behind some of the terror attacks in this country.

The Ministry of External Affairs has said that Pakistan has been trying to deflect international attention from its role as the epicentre of regional instability and a safe haven for proscribed terrorists.

"India has been at the forefront of global efforts against terrorism in partnership with the international community, which is well aware of Pakistan's credentials when it comes to terrorism. Such desperate attempts by Pakistan at peddling lies and propaganda will therefore find few takers, a spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs said in New Delhi in 2021.

Khar also accused India of working against the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and creating unrest in the Balochistan province.

The minister alleged that India was a "rogue state" working against the UN resolutions and went on to claim that India had been paralysing the UNSC sanctions regime by blocking the listing of "Indian terrorists".

The blast near the residence of Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Saeed in Johar Town killed three people and injured 24 others in 2021.

The 72-year-old radical cleric has been serving a jail sentence at the high-security Kot Lakhpat Jail in Lahore for his conviction in terror financing cases.

The blast had sparked rumours that Saeed was present in the house.

Saeed, an UN-designated terrorist on whom the US has placed a USD 10 million bounty on, has been convicted in five terror financing cases. His punishment is running concurrently.

Saeed-led JuD is the front organisation for the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) which is responsible for carrying out the 2008 Mumbai attack that killed 166 people, including six Americans.

The US Department of the Treasury has designated Saeed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. He was listed under the UN Security Council Resolution 1267 in December 2008.