Pakistan rejects India's response to its 'dossier'

KARACHI, Pakistan

Pakistan on Monday rejected India's response to a "dossier" in which Islamabad accused its longtime rival of "sponsoring" terrorism.

“Pakistan categorically rejects the Indian Ministry of External Affairs’ denial of the irrefutable evidence on Indian state sponsorship of terrorism," Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“Fully exposed, India has typically resorted to sophistry, obfuscation and re-fabrication. Bland denials and a regurgitation of an old litany of charges, however, will not change facts," it added.

The dossier, the statement claimed, extensively documents India’s "active planning, promoting, aiding, abetting, financing and execution of terrorist activities against Pakistan."

Since 2001, Pakistan has faced more than 19,000 terrorist attacks on its soil and suffered 83,000 causalities, in addition to the economic losses of $126 billion, according to the statement.

The statement further read, India has "mischievously" masqueraded as a “victim” of terrorism and sought to mislead the international community by hypocritically levelling terrorism-related allegations against Pakistan.

Islamabad also accused New Delhi of conducting "false flag" operations in disputed Jammu and Kashmir, and inside India to "malign" Pakistan.

"That façade has now been removed and the world can see the real face of India – one blackened by its decades-long state-terrorism in IIOJK [Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir] and state-sponsored terrorism and destabilization efforts in Pakistan,” it further charged.

Referring to the arrest of a serving Indian Navy officer, Kulbhushan Jadhav, on espionage charges in March 2016 from southwestern Balochistan province, Islamabad said: “His complicity in subversion, sabotage and terrorism in Pakistan is part of the incontrovertible evidence against India."

"The world is also familiar with “saffron terror” orchestrated and unleashed by the RSS-BJP zealots against Muslims in India and against Pakistan," the statement said, adding: "Masterminds of Mecca Masjid, Ajmer Dargah, and Samjhota Express terrorist cases, like Swami Aseemanand, have been granted full state protection and acquitted in complete travesty of justice after having confessed to India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA)."

The presence of Daesh and al-Qaeda in India as highlighted in recent UN reports, it asserted, indicates that India is emerging as a hotbed of UN-designated international terrorist organizations and posing a great risk to the region.

UN urged to play its role

Demanding the UN counter-terrorism bodies proceed on the basis of "concrete" evidence, Islamabad urged the world body to play its part "in dismantling of the Indian terrorist infrastructure, details of which have been provided in the dossier."

New Delhi, however, denied the allegations Monday and accused Islamabad of patronizing terrorism.

“This desperate attempt will find few takers as the international community is aware of Pakistan’s tactics,” India’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Anurag Srivastava said in a statement.