ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The Foreign Office has said that Pakistan categorically rejects the baseless allegations made by the Indian home minister in the Parliament that terrorists involved in the Gurdaspur incident had entered India from Pakistan.
Earlier in the day, the Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh told the Lok Sabha that the gunmen who stormed a police station in Indian Punjab on July 27 had come from Pakistan via Ravi river.
Seven person including three civilians and four security personnel were killed early on Monday when three heavily-armed men stormed a police station in Gurdaspur district of Indian northern state of Punjab.
“Pakistan regrets the unsubstantiated and unwarranted assertion that those involved in the Gurdaspur incident of 27 July, had entered India from Pakistan,” the Foreign Office Spokesman Qazi Khalilullah said in a statement on Thursday.
The spokesman said that Pakistan believes that India’s Home Minister’s provocative comments are a threat to peace and security of the region.
“We have noted with concern a continuing tendency of India to cast blame on Pakistan for any terrorist incident in India. In the Gurdaspur incident, blames were apportioned to Pakistan in the Indian media, even when the encounter with terrorists was still going on,” Qazi Khalilullah said.
Qazi Khalilullah further said that immediately after the Gurdaspur incident, Pakistan had issued a statement expressing condemnation “in the strongest terms” of the attack in Gurdaspur.
“Pakistan condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. Terrorism is a common enemy of both Pakistan and India,” he said.
The foreign office spokesman said that in order to tackle terrorism, a cooperative approach is required. He added that blame game and finger-pointing would be unhelpful.
“We urge the Government of India to refrain from casting baseless allegations and work with Pakistan to eliminate terrorism from the region and create an environment of peace and amity in South Asia,” the spokesman said.
“If Government of India has any concrete evidence in this case, same may be shared with Government of Pakistan.”
The Indian home minister in his statement in the Lok Sabha also asserted that the government will do everything possible to prevent cross-border terrorism.
“Any effort by the enemies of our nation to undermine India’s territorial integrity and security or imperil the safety and security of our citizens will meet an effective and forceful response from our security forces,” Rajnath Singh said.
