New Delhi: Pakistan’s attack on places of worship and its “preposterous” attempts to put the blame on Indian armed forces is reflective of Islamabad’s evil design and efforts to deceive and mislead the world, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said Friday.
Citing Pakistan’s attack on a gurdwara in Amritsar and its subsequent attempt to blame it on Indian armed forces, Misri said Islamabad’s thinking that India would attack its own cities is the kind of “deranged fantasy” that only the Pakistani state can come up with.
At a media briefing, the foreign secretary blasted Pakistan’s provocative and escalatory actions to try and target Indian cities and civilian infrastructure using drones last night.
Misri especially hit out at Pakistan for its “blatantly farcical denial” of these attacks saying it is yet another example of Islamabad’s duplicity and the “new depths” that it is plumbing to in its “quest for disinformation”.
The foreign secretary’s remarks came as tensions between the two countries soared significantly following India’s strike on terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied-Kashmir under ‘Operation Sindoor’ early Wednesday.
Misri was severely critical of Pakistan for targeting religious places with an aim to give a communal colour to the current situation, and pointed to an incident of Pakistan attacking a gurdwara in Poonch and another religious place in Amritsar.
“Instead of owning up to these attacks, Pakistan made the preposterous and outrageous claim that it was the Indian armed forces and the Indian Air Force that was targeting cities like Amritsar and trying to put the blame on Pakistan,” he said.
“This is nothing but a desperate attempt by Pakistan to disown its acts of aggression; but it is also true to its efforts to deceive and mislead the world. It will not succeed,” Misri said.
He said that “we would attack our own cities” is the kind of deranged fantasy that only the Pakistani state can come up with.
Perhaps they do it because they are well versed in such action as their history would show, he said.
Misri described it as a “blatant lie” Pakistan’s allegations of India targeting the Nankana Sahib Gurdwara using a drone.
“This is again yet another blatant lie and part of Pakistan’s disinformation campaign. As we saw in the Pahalgam attack, Pakistan is again trying desperately to impart a communal hue to the situation with an intention to create discord,” he said.
“Again, we are not surprised. India’s steadfast unity in itself is a challenge to Pakistan,” he said.
Misri said in view of the existing security scenario, the Kartarpur Sahib corridor has been suspended.
On India’s strikes on Bahawalpur’s Markaz Subhan Allah -? the nerve centre of Jaish-e-Mohammed linked to the killing of Daniel Pearl, a journalist with The Wall Street Journal, Misri said the terror outfit was “directly or indirectly” responsible for his death.
“Bahawalpur is the headquarters of the Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist group that is proscribed by the UN. Its leader Masood Azhar, is a proscribed individual,” he said, responding to a question.
“You brought up the connection with the tragic death or killing of Daniel Pearl of the Wall Street Journal. The JeM was in some way directly or indirectly responsible for the death of Daniel Pearl,” he said.
“But the real connection is through Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, the British Pakistani jihadi who was held in India but was finally released in 2000 and he was the person who lured Daniel Pearl to his…murder,” Misri said.
PTI