India trashes Pak claim, says no role in Lahore attack

Tribune News Service

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New Delhi, July 8

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) dismissed allegations from Pakistan President Arif Alvi accusing India of carrying out a hybrid war which was manifest in the June 23 bomb blast near the home of Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed.

“It is not new for Pakistan to engage in baseless propaganda against India,” said MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi while telling Islamabad that it would do well to expend the same effort in setting its own house in order.

India also asked Pakistan to take credible and verifiable action against terrorism emanating from its soil and terrorists who have found safe sanctuaries there. The international community is well aware of Pakistan’s credentials when it comes to terrorism. “This is acknowledged by none other than its own leadership, which continues to glorify terrorists like Osama Bin Laden as ‘martyrs’,” said Bagchi.

The MEA also said it was not abandoning Afghanistan as was suggested by some media reports. Though India has closed two of four of its consulates in Afghanistan, the Embassy in Kabul and the two remaining consulates in Kandahar and Mazar-e-Sharif are functional.