ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Monday accused India of involvement in targeted assassinations and “state-sponsored terrorism” abroad, escalating a war of words after New Delhi said it had arrested more than 200 operatives of what it called a Pakistan-backed and -funded militant network accused of plotting attacks around Independence Day.
Indian Home Minister Amit Shah said the arrests were made in coordinated operations across 14 states ahead of on Aug. 15, thwarting what he described as planned “subversive attacks.” He said the group was backed and funded by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency and that security forces had recovered explosives, grenades bearing Pakistan Ordnance Factory markings, firearms, ammunition and surveillance equipment.
“Unfounded Indian insinuations cannot divert international attention away from India’s state-sponsored terrorism, targeted assassinations, and subversion in foreign territories,” Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said in a statement.
Pakistan rejected Shah’s allegations as “baseless,” saying New Delhi was seeking to divert attention from domestic security challenges and blame Islamabad for political gains.
“At home, India is a repressive state, brutally oppressing its minorities and silencing dissent,” Andrabi said. “Externally, India is exporting terror and abetting terrorists.”
India is home to about 200 million Muslims. Muslim leaders, opposition politicians and rights groups have accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party government of pursuing policies that discriminate against Muslims and of creating an environment in which anti-Muslim rhetoric and violence have flourished.
Critics have pointed, among other measures, to a citizenship law that fast-tracks nationality for persecuted migrants belonging to six religious minorities from three Muslim-majority neighboring countries but excludes Muslims. Modi’s government has repeatedly denied discriminating against Muslims and says its policies benefit all communities.
Pakistan’s reference to “targeted assassinations” comes amid scrutiny of alleged Indian operations against Sikh separatists abroad.
Canada has accused Indian government agents of involvement in the 2023 killing of Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia, while US prosecutors have pursued a case over an alleged plot to kill Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in New York. India denied involvement in Nijjar’s killing and said it was investigating allegations related to the US case.
Pakistan has separately accused Indian agents of orchestrating killings on its soil, allegations New Delhi has denied.
Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh said in 2024, however, that India would enter Pakistan to kill anyone who fled there after carrying out militant attacks in India, remarks Islamabad described at the time as an admission of willingness to conduct extrajudicial killings abroad.
The Foreign Office also cited Kulbhushan Jadhav, an Indian national convicted by a Pakistani military court in 2017 of espionage and terrorism, as evidence for its accusations against New Delhi.
“The convicted and serving Indian naval commander, Kulbhushan Jadhav, is undeniable proof of India’s direct involvement in subversion and terrorism in Pakistan,” Andrabi said.
Pakistan has repeatedly accused India of backing and financing militant groups, including the Pakistani Taliban and separatist Balochistan Liberation Army, which Islamabad says operate from sanctuaries in neighboring Afghanistan and have carried out attacks on civilians and security forces, particularly in its western Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces. India and Afghanistan have denied the allegations.
India and Pakistan fought 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 investigation into India’s allegations.
