Says India is trying to put blame on neighbours for security and intelligence failures; claims these were “well-rehearsed tactics from Indian playbook.” Has the temerity to ask New Delhi to introspect
Islamabad: Pakistan, as is customary, remains in denial. On Sunday, it had the temerity to deny its role in the Pulwama terror attack, saying that India was trying to put the blame on neighbours for its security and intelligence failures. It also said that the accusations were in sync with a familiar pattern; these were “well-rehearsed tactics from Indian playbook”.
“These knee-jerk and pre-conceived accusations have been rejected also because they were made within a short time after the attack and without any investigations, Mohammad Faisal, spokesperson of Ministry of Foreign Affairs Pakistan, tweeted on Sunday. Faisal also attacked India for accepting the confession video of Pulwama suicide bomber Adil Ahmed Dar but not that of Kulbhushan Jadhav, who they have sentenced to death after accusing him of being an Indian spy.
“Dichotomy in Indian position is evident; while it accepts the unverified social media content about JeM claims of responsibility and video of the attacker as “gold standard”, it goes into denial mode when confronted with voluntary confessions and acceptance of responsibility by its serving Naval commander Jadhav for perpetrating terrorist violence in Pakistan,” Faisal added.
Pakistan stepped out of the shadows to react to the Pulwama massacre, possibly because of the presence of Saudi Crown Prince on its soil. Keen to neutralise the Indian diplomatic offensive, Pakistan on Sunday also shared with ambassadors from African and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) countries its perception.
This essentially meant running down New Delhi’s “aggressive rhetoric” which, it claimed, was “counterproductive and a threat to regional peace.” India, meanwhile, raised the issue during bilateral meetings with several countries, including the US, Germany and Russia, at the three-day Munich Security Conference that concluded on Sunday.
The conference was attended by over 600 delegates and it deliberated at length on a host of security-related issues, including international terrorism. It had earlier held a briefing for envoys of 25 countries, including from P5 nations — US, China, Russia, the UK and France — in New Delhi on Friday to highlight Pakistan’s role in using terrorism as an instrument of state policy.
