Quetta attack: Pak hints involvement of India's RAW

Pakistan has in a veiled statement indicated that India's intelligence agency RAW might have collaborated with the local militant groups in carrying out Monday's terrorist attack in Quetta, which killed over 70 people.

"Involvement of foreign elements working in cahoots with their local contacts in the condemnable terrorist attack in Quetta, which took a huge toll on the lives of innocent people, cannot be ruled out," the Express Tribune quoted Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria as saying at the weekly press briefing in Islamabad yesterday.

Zakaria, who was responding to a question regarding the

statement by Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Sanaullah Zehri that RAW was behind the Quetta bombing, said that the Indian intelligence agencies remained involved in subversive and terrorist activities in the country, particularly in Balochistan and Karachi.

"The confessional statement by a serving [Indian] naval officer, who was apprehended by our law enforcement agencies has indeed vindicated Pakistan's claim. The confession has led to significant success in rounding up elements of the network," he added.

Zakaria's statements come as tensions between the two Asian neighbours have soured in wake of the unrest in Kashmir.

He also dismissed India's claims of cross-LoC infiltration.

"Pakistan remains committed to the policy of not allowing its territory for any terrorist activity against anyone," he said.

In wake of the Kashmir issue following the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Muzaffar Wani on July 8, Zakaria said that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Foreign Affairs Advisor Sartaj Aziz has written a letter to the Arab League secretary-general seeking his attention on the Kashmir valley.