Even as the deadly terror attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama has taken the India-Pakistan relations to a new low, Pakistan Foreign Office on Sunday ruled out any role in the attack, and urged India to pursue the path of dialogue.
“India must come out of the denial mode, end state repression against Kashmiri youth, address widespread alienation in IoK and pursue the path of dialogue,” said a statement issued by Pakistan Foreign Office Spokesperson Mohammad Faisal.
It said the “bluster, belligerence and pursuit of expedient standards to suit internal political interests is both delusional and counterproductive”.
At least 40 CRPF personnel were killed and five injured on Thursday when a Jaish-e-Mohammad suicide bomber rammed a vehicle with explosives into their bus in Pulwama district.
New Delhi has claimed to have incontrovertible evidence of Pakistan’s direct hand in the attack.
Pakistan said it had rejected Indian allegations because they were made “within a short time from the attack and without carrying out any investigations”.
The Foreign Office statement said that the JeM remains a proscribed entity in Pakistan since 2002 and that Pakistan is implementing its obligations on sanctions.
“India needs to introspect and respond to questions about its security and intelligence lapses that led to this attack. India owes an explanation on reports of Adil Ahmed Dar’s arrest and custody since 2017,” it said.
Saying that Pakistan desired normalisation of ties with India, the statement recalled the letter written to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi by Pakistan premier Imran Khan proposing a meeting of the foreign ministers of the two countries. “It was India which cancelled the meeting on baseless pretexts,” it said.
