India on Thursday denied Pakistan’s allegations of an Indian hand in the recent clashes between Pakistani forces and the Taliban, and said such a “narrative” would not change the fact that Islamabad supports cross-border terrorism.
This was the latest example of the Indian side’s support for the Afghan Taliban regime in Kabul in the ongoing clashes with the Pakistani army. Fighting between the two sides intensified on February 26, when Afghanistan launched an attack along the border in response to Pakistani air strikes targeting the Pakistani Taliban.
When Foreign Ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal was asked at a weekly press conference about Pakistani accusations of India’s involvement in supporting the Afghan Taliban, he replied: “We reject such baseless allegations. It has become normal for Pakistan to blame India for its misdeeds.”
“As a state sponsor of terrorism for decades, Pakistan has zero credibility when it comes to cross-border terrorism. No amount of storytelling will change this reality, and no one will be fooled by the assumption of Pakistani victimhood.”
Islamabad accuses the Afghan Taliban of harboring the Pakistani Taliban, which carried out a series of deadly attacks inside Pakistan, and Islamic State-Khorasan Province fighters. The Afghan Taliban denied these accusations.
Jaiswal also rejected Pakistan’s criticism of the recent agreement between a Canadian company and the Indian Ministry of Atomic Energy to supply uranium ore, and said Islamabad’s reaction was “ridiculous” and an attempt to divert attention from its “bad record” in failing to prevent nuclear proliferation.
“We reject the statement made by Pakistan on this issue. India’s non-proliferation credentials are impeccable and well recognized by the global community,” Jaiswal said.
He added that Pakistan, which has a “well-documented history of covert nuclear proliferation,” “cannot preach the virtues of export controls and the dangers of proliferation” and that such “ridiculous statements” are nothing more than an attempt to divert attention from Islamabad’s poor record.
The Department of Atomic Energy and the Canadian company signed a $1.9 billion agreement on March 2 to supply approximately 22 million pounds of uranium during the period 2027-2035. The Pakistani Foreign Ministry claimed that the agreement would help India expand its nuclear arsenal.
