Despite it being backed by none other than the US, a recalcitrant Pakistan has rubbished India’s ‘‘so-called’’ evidence linking Mumbai attacks with Pakistan nationals saying it was no more than allegations and propaganda offensive.
In a statement which is likely to further stoke anger here ,if not lead to another flare up, Pakistan foreign secretary Salman Bashir told the foreign relations committee of Pakistan National Assembly on Tuesday that evidence provided by India was not credible enough.
Bashir also said that PM Manmohan Singh’s statement blaming official agencies in Pakistan for the Mumbai attacks would escalate tension and eventually push the two countries towards war. He added in his address to the committee that any military action by India would prove to be its ‘‘biggest mistake’’.
Bashir’s statement authenticated reports in Pakistan media which suggested that Islamabad has already picked enough holes in the Indian dossier linking Mumbai attacks to Pakistan nationals to suggest that the evidence was doctored by New Delhi.
Pakistan’s minister of state for foreign affairs Malik Emaad Khan too asked India to provide evidence which would stand the scrutiny of law. That Pakistan was not going to cower in the face of the diplomatic offensive by India was evident when Khan said that Pakistan would come up with a ‘‘befitting’’ reply for any Indian military adventurism and described the situation as ‘‘very tense’’.
There was no response from the Indian side to this development till late in the evening. Minister of state for foreign affairs Anand Sharma said that, as a first step, Pakistan should acknowledge that Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone terrorist survivor, is a Pakistani. However, going by the reports in Pakistan media, Kasab’s confession has found few takers, if at all, in Pakistan.
In a statement which is likely to further stoke anger here ,if not lead to another flare up, Pakistan foreign secretary Salman Bashir told the foreign relations committee of Pakistan National Assembly on Tuesday that evidence provided by India was not credible enough.
Bashir also said that PM Manmohan Singh’s statement blaming official agencies in Pakistan for the Mumbai attacks would escalate tension and eventually push the two countries towards war. He added in his address to the committee that any military action by India would prove to be its ‘‘biggest mistake’’.
Bashir’s statement authenticated reports in Pakistan media which suggested that Islamabad has already picked enough holes in the Indian dossier linking Mumbai attacks to Pakistan nationals to suggest that the evidence was doctored by New Delhi.
Pakistan’s minister of state for foreign affairs Malik Emaad Khan too asked India to provide evidence which would stand the scrutiny of law. That Pakistan was not going to cower in the face of the diplomatic offensive by India was evident when Khan said that Pakistan would come up with a ‘‘befitting’’ reply for any Indian military adventurism and described the situation as ‘‘very tense’’.
There was no response from the Indian side to this development till late in the evening. Minister of state for foreign affairs Anand Sharma said that, as a first step, Pakistan should acknowledge that Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone terrorist survivor, is a Pakistani. However, going by the reports in Pakistan media, Kasab’s confession has found few takers, if at all, in Pakistan.
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