MEA scoffs at Pak's claims of India's hand in Lahore blast, shunts Imran Khan's propaganda

Downplaying Pakistan's pointed accusations at India in the recent Lahore bomb blast outside Jama'at-ud-Da'wah (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed's residence, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) downright rejected the allegations levied, terming it as 'baseless propaganda'. The MEA, instead, highlighted Pakistan's credentials in harbouring terrorists which is well-known to the international community. The Ministry's statement comes in response to Pakistan NSA Moeed Yusuf's claims of India's hand in the Lahore blast which has snapped 'back door' talks with New Delhi. 

When asked for New Delhi's position on Pakistan's accusations in the press briefing on Thursday, MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi scoffed in response. The MEA Spokesperson also took a dig at the current government in power in Pakistan which has acknowledged the country's active participation in harbouring terrorists. The Indian Spokesperson was referring to PM Imran Khan's recent address where he had referred to former Al Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden, who for long was hiding in Pakistan's Abbottabad, as a 'martyr'. 

"It is not new for Pakistan to engage in baseless propaganda against India. Pakistan would do well to expend the same effort in setting its own house in order and taking credible and verifiable action against terrorism emanating from its soil and terrorist sanctuaries there," the MEA spokesperson said. 

"International community is well aware of Pakistan's credentials when it comes to terrorism. This is acknowledged by none other than its own leadership which continues to glorify terrorists like Osama Bin Laden as martyrs," Bagchi added. 

On the issue of the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, the MEA said that it is closely monitoring the developments while the Indian embassy and the two consulates there remain functional. "We are carefully monitoring the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan and its implications on the safety of Indian nationals there. Our responses will be calibrated accordingly," he said. The MEA spokesperson also said that New Delhi continues to encourage countries to accept indigenously manufactured COVID-19 vaccines. 

Pak PM pins blame on India

In yet another act of shambolic hypocrisy, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday drew India's link to the blast outside UN-designated terrorist and Jama'at-ud-Da'wah (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed's residence in Lahore. Playing the victim card, PM Imran Khan accused India of sponsoring terrorism against Pakistan while making no mention of Hafiz Saeed, accused of being the mastermind of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, who resides untroubled in Lahore. Calling for support of the global community, the Pakistani PM sought mobilisation of international institutions against India's 'rogue behaviour'. 

However, he blatantly ignored FATF's recent ruling, which denied taking Pakistan off its grey list, and maintaining that the country needs to take coercive steps to curb money laundering and terror financing. In a series of tweets on Sunday, Imran Khan said that he has instructed his team to brief the nation on the findings of the blast outside Hafiz Saeed's residence, which according to local reports earlier, was caused by a gas pipeline explosion. 

"This coordination led to identifying the terrorists & their international linkages. Again, planning & financing of this heinous terror attack has links to Indian sponsorship of terrorism against Pak.  Global community must mobilise int (international) institutions against this rogue behaviour," Khan had tweeted. 

Following the accusations, Pakistan asserted that it had called off the rumoured backchannel talks with India. Speaking to a private channel on July 3, Pakistan's National Security Advisor Moeed Yusuf claimed that it was India that had approached his country expressing willingness to talk on all issues including Jammu and Kashmir. He stated, "We clearly conveyed them our demand i.e. reversal of August 2019 move, for resumption of talks,"