ISLAMABAD: Pakistan categorically rejects allegations linking it to any criminal or “terrorist” gang operating inside India, Pakistani state media reported on Monday, citing a senior official.
The statement came after Home Minister Amit Shah said Indian security agencies had arrested more than 200 “terror operatives” linked to Pakistan, thwarting potential “subversive attacks” around the country’s Independence Day last week, in one of the largest such crackdowns in years.
A multi-state operation against what Shah said was a “terror group” backed by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency was carried out across 14 Indian states on August 12, three days before India celebrated its 80th year of freedom.
While Pakistan’s foreign minister has yet to respond to the statement, a senior Pakistani official, who requested anonymity, termed the allegations “another Indian attempt to distract public attention from real internal issues and external setbacks.”
“Pakistan will not lend credibility to an unverified Indian media story by commenting on its particulars,” the state-run Pakistan TV broadcaster quoted the official as saying.
India and Pakistan both claim that the other fosters and abets “terrorism” in their country.
The nuclear-armed neighbors were involved in a four-day military conflict last year after India blamed Pakistani attackers for the killing of 26 men at a tourist destination in Indian Kashmir.
Islamabad denied involvement and called for a credible international probe into India’s allegations.
