India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Tuesday evening responded to Prime Minister Imran Khan’s offer for an investigation and dialogue over the Pulwama attack with further vitriol.
In a statement that spurned Islamabad’s effort to defuse tensions, New Delhi described PM Khan’s statement that Pakistan itself has been the biggest victim of terrorism as ‘far from the truth’. “We are not surprised that the prime minister of Pakistan refuses to acknowledge the attack on our security forces in Pulwama as an act of terrorism. Prime minister of Pakistan has neither chosen to condemn this heinous act nor condoled with the bereaved families,” it said.
“Disclaiming any link between the terrorist attack and Pakistan is an oft-repeated excuse by Pakistan,” the ministry said, alleging that PM Khan has ‘ignored’ claims made by Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) as well as the bomber behind the attack. However, no explanation was offered in the statement as to what these ‘claims’ were that the Indian government believe prove a Pakistani link to the attack. Instead of the ‘actionable evidence’ that PM Khan requested in order to be able to provide assistance to New Delhi, it only repeated the accusation that “Jaish-e-Mohammad and its leader Masood Azhar are based in Pakistan. These should be sufficient proof for Pakistan to take action.”
“The Prime Minister of Pakistan has offered to investigate the matter if India provides proof. This is a lame excuse. In the horrific attack in Mumbai on 26/11, proof was provided to Pakistan. Despite this, the case has not progressed for the last more than 10 years. Likewise, on the terror attack on Pathankot airbase, there has been no progress,” the MEA alleged. The statement failed to acknowledge that Indian authorities themselves impeded the Pathankot investigation. The MEA also blocked PM Khan’s proposal for a dialogue with vague conditions stating, “Pakistan’s Prime Minister has called for dialogue and expressed his readiness to talk about terrorism. India has repeatedly stated that it is ready to engage in a comprehensive bilateral dialogue in an atmosphere free from terror and violence.” The MEA also dedicated a paragraph to contradicting PM Khan for implying that the whipping up of war hysteria across the border may be politically motivated, especially given that the Indian general election is coming up later this year. “India rejects this false allegation. India’s democracy is a model for the world which Pakistan would never understand,” it said.
Published in Daily Times, February 20th 2019.
