‘Malicious’: MEA on Pakistan claim of Indian role in 2 targeted killings

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 25

The Ministry of External Affairs has described as “false and malicious” the anti-India propaganda made in Islamabad on Friday by Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary Syrus Sajjad Qazi of the Indian government’s alleged involvement in the recent target killing incidents within the country.

Pakistan claimed that it had “credible evidence” of links between what it called as “Indian agents” and the assassination of two Pakistani terrorists associated with the Jaish-e-Mohammed and the Lashkar-e-Toiba in Sialkot and Rawalkot last year. Qazi asserted that evidence, including financial transactions and confessions from the perpetrators, pointed to the involvement of Indian citizens in orchestrating the murders. At a press conference in Islamabad, Qazi alleged that India was carrying out “extra-territorial and extra-judicial killings” inside Pakistan.

Islamabad identifies two ‘masterminds’

• Pakistan Foreign Secy said Islamabad had ‘evidence’ of links between Indian agents and assassination of the two Pakistani nationals on its soil
• The Pakistan official identified the alleged masterminds as Ashok Kumar and Yogesh Kumar, who hired killers for the murders

Shahid Latif, a key aide of terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed’s chief Masood Azhar and the mastermind of the 2016 attack on the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot, was gunned down in a mosque in Sialkot in Punjab province on October 11, 2023. On September 8, 2023, Riyaz Ahmad alias Abu Qasim, affiliated with the proscribed Lashkar-e-Taiba, who was one of the main conspirators behind the Dhangri terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir on January 1, 2023, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen inside the Al-Qudus mosque during pre-dawn prayers in the Rawalkot area in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir.

Will reap what you sow, says india

It is Pakistan’s latest attempt at peddling false and malicious anti-India propaganda. Pakistan will reap what it sows. To blame others for its own misdeeds can neither be a justification nor a solution. —Randhir Jaiswal, MEA spokesperson

In response, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, “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.”

The Pakistan Foreign Secretary at a press conference said Islamabad had credible evidence of links between Indian agents and assassination of two Pakistani nationals on Pakistani soil. He identified the alleged masterminds as Ashok Kumar and Yogesh Kumar, who hired killers for the murders. He also said RAW agents used microfinance banking channels like Easy Paisa and Jazz Cash for disbursement to the killers.

It is not clear why Pakistan chose not to air the allegation about Yogesh Kumar for three months when the alleged killer, one Muhammad Umair, was claimed to be arrested on October 12 last year, a day after the alleged killing. In case of another murder, Pakistan kept the news about alleged Indian involvement under wraps since September 15 when the alleged killer was arrested. (With PTI inputs)

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#Indian Air Force #Jammu #Pakistan #Pathankot