Pakistan long been epicentre of terrorism: MEA junks assassination claims

Dismissing allegations linking India with the deaths of two Pakistani nationals, Ministry of External Affairs official spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal on Thursday said the neighbouring country has long been the epicentre of terrorism, organised crime, and illegal transnational activities.

He called Pakistan's claims the latest attempt at "peddling false and malicious anti-India propaganda".

Jaiswal stressed that India and many other nations have publicly warned Pakistan that it would be consumed by its own culture of terror and violence.

He asserted that "Pakistan will reap what it sows."

In a statement, Jaiswal stated, "We have seen media reports regarding certain remarks by Pakistan Foreign Secretary. It is Pakistan's latest attempt at peddling false and malicious anti-India propaganda."

"As the world knows, Pakistan has long been the epicentre of terrorism, organised crime, and illegal transnational activities. India and many other countries have publicly warned Pakistan cautioning that it would be consumed by its own culture of terror and violence. Pakistan will reap what it sows. To blame others for its own misdeeds can neither be a justification nor a solution," he added.

On Thursday, Pakistan Foreign Secretary Muhammad Syrus Sajjad Qazi claimed Islamabad had "credible evidence" of links between Indian agents and the assassination of two Pakistani nationals in Sialkot and Rawalkot--Shahid Latif and Muhammad Riaz.

Latif, who was gunned down in a mosque in Sialkot, has been designated as a terrorist in India, Dawn reported. Riaz, formerly associated with the terrorist organisation Jamaatud Dawa, was killed in Rawalkot, The Express Tribune reported.

In a press briefing on Thursday, Qazi said, "Indian agents used technology and safe havens on foreign soil to commit assassinations in Pakistan. They recruited, financed and supported criminals, terrorists and unsuspecting civilians to play defined roles in these assassinations", according to a Dawn report.

In May last year, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said the "victims of terrorism do not sit together with perpetrators of terrorism".

Addressing a press conference after a meeting of the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers, Jaishankar slammed Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari's "weaponising terrorism" remarks.

"Victims of terrorism do not sit together with perpetrators of terrorism to discuss terrorism. Victims of terrorism defend themselves, counter acts of terrorism, they call it out, they legitimise it and that is exactly what is happening. To come here and preach these hypocritical words as though we are on the same boat," he said.

He was answering questions on India-Pakistan ties including a question from a Pakistani journalist.