Says India has been actively aiding and sponsoring terrorist groups operating from Afghan soil against Pakistan
Pakistan on Wednesday rejected India’s criticism of its recent “targeted and proportionate” actions against terror infrastructure in Afghanistan, calling New Delhi’s remarks “baseless” and accusing India of supporting terror groups operating against Pakistan.
“Pakistan rejects the baseless statement of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs on Pakistan’s legitimate, targeted and proportionate actions against terrorist infrastructure in Afghanistan,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Tahir Andrabi said in response to a media query seeking Pakistan’s response to the June 29 statement by India’s Ministry of External Affairs.
He described India’s remarks as “contagious” and claimed that India had “historically interfered with and undermined the sovereignty and territorial integrity of its neighboring countries in violation of the UN Charter”.
The spokesman also accused India of continuing “to suppress the right to self-determination of Kashmiris in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, in violation of the relevant UN resolutions”.
Andrabi further said that India had “actively aided and sponsored terrorist groups operating from Afghan soil against Pakistan, in violation of the relevant UN Security Council sanctions regime”, and accused New Delhi of continuing “to play the role of a regional spoiler”.
He added that “its baseless allegations and inflammatory statements against Pakistan must not be entertained”.
Echoing Islamabad’s position, the spokesman said Pakistan “has been and will continue to take all appropriate measures to maintain the safety and security of its citizens in accordance with international law”.
Read: 29 terrorists killed in ‘calibrated attacks’ along Pak-Afghan border, says Tarar
Earlier this week, security forces had carried out precision strikes on terrorist camps and safe havens for Jamaat-ul-Ahrar and Fitna al-Khawarij in Afghanistan’s Paktia, Paktika and Kunar provinces, killing 29 terrorists.
The attacks were carried out under Operation Ghazab Lil Haq on the night of June 28-29 following an attack on a Rangers camp in Karachi. In a post on X, Information Minister Ata Tarar said the strikes eliminated terrorists and destroyed arms and ammunition caches.
Tarar said the security forces continued the operation Ghazab Lil Haq after a series of terrorist attacks in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Balochistan and on a Sindh Rangers camp in Karachi.
The attacks came after security forces foiled a terrorist attack on a Sindh Rangers camp in Karachi’s Gulistan-e-Jauhar area. Three Rangers personnel were martyred and four others were injured during the assault, while three terrorists were killed and another, identified as an Afghan national, was captured in an injured condition. The military attributed the attack Jamaat-ul-Ahrar.
Fitna al-Khawarij is the state-designated term for the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), and Jamaat-ul-Ahrar is one of the group’s breakaway factions.
Operation Ghazab Lil Haq was launched around the end of February following renewed clashes along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border after Afghan Taliban forces fired at several locations, prompting swift military retaliation from Pakistan.
Pakistan in April made three core demands to the Afghan Taliban during peace talks in Urumqi, China, including Kabul formally declaring the TTP a terrorist organization, dismantling its infrastructure and providing verifiable evidence of the action. The demands form the basis of Pakistan’s negotiating position, which sources say has hardened amid ongoing security concerns.
