ISLAMABAD, Dec 19: India has not provided evidence to Pakistan to substantiate its allegations that Jaish-i-Mohammad and Lashkar-i-Tayyaba were involved in the Dec-13 attack on the Indian Parliament, the foreign office said here on Wednesday.

“India has neither agreed to our suggestion for an impartial inquiry into the incident nor responded to Pakistan’s request for evidence,” said a statement issued by the foreign office.

There should be a universal definition of terrorism and terrorists, which could either be individuals or state, Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar said in response to Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s statement.

Talking to Dawn on phone, Mr Sattar refuted Indian allegations against ISI for sponsoring terrorist attacks, and said that Pakistan had always condemned all forms of terrorism.

He reiterated Pakistan’s demand for an impartial inquiry into the terrorist attack of Dec 13. It was the typical Indian style of playing the role of complainant and judge at the same time, which, he said, could not be acceptable to any civilized society.

Commenting on the remarks of the Indian prime minister that India would not attack Pakistan, he said: “We have already adopted a policy of restraint.”

On the fate of Saarc meeting in Kathmandu next month, the foreign minister said, Pakistan was ready to attend the meeting. Ministerial level meetings are scheduled to be held on Jan 2 and 3 and heads of state level meeting on Jan 4.

“We are ready to attend these meetings,” he added. However, on the prospects of a meeting between Indian Prime Minister Vajpayee and President General Musharraf on the sidelines of Saarc summit, he said, Pakistan had always been for resolution of all outstanding issues through dialogue.

He recalled that they had visited New York in November last with a hope that a meeting might take place between the two leaders, but India showed no interest in resumption of talks.

“Though we are willing in resuming the dialogue, we will not request Indian prime minister for a meeting with President General Pervez Musharraf,” he added.

Responding to allegations of Pakistan involvement, the foreign office said: “Past experience is witness that Indian authorities, motivated by prejudice and animus, resort to totally false and unsubstantiated allegations against Pakistan.

“Only recently, on October 3, 2001, Indian accused Jaish-i- Mohammad and Pakistani intelligence of engineering the so-called hijacking of an Indian airline, flight CD 7444 but later discovered that the incident was due to a false alarm.

“More infamous was the 1971 hijacking incident of the Indian Airline plane Ganga to Lahore. Actually, it was an operation planned and executed by Indian Intelligence with the preconceived purpose of fabricating pretence in order to ban Pakistani overflights between East and West Pakistan preparatory to Indian military intervention in East Pakistan. The reprehensible episode is graphically depicted in ‘Inside Raw’ by an Indian author. A Pakistan judicial inquiry reached the same conclusion.

“Now as Indian authorities have once again jumped to an unwarranted conclusion, their accusations against Pakistan lack credibility.

“If India really believes in its accusation, it should agree to an impartial inquiry. Its arrogation to itself of th roles of accuser as well as judge, is contrary to principles of justice and inadmissible under law.”

AFP adds: Pakistan denied Indian allegation that its troops were amassing along the border with its nuclear rival, saying that New Delhi might be planning its own military build-up.

“This is absolutely untrue,” the military government spokesman, Major General Rashid Qureshi said.

“The only reason for spreading such reports is either they got wrong information or they are looking for an excuse to mass their own troops along the border with Pakistan.”

There were no troop movements on the Pakistani side, the top military spokesman said.

He accused Indian troops of launching a heavy mortar and rocket attack on border villages in Azad Kashmir late Tuesday in which three civilians were wounded.

“It was absolutely unprovoked firing which continued for about two hours,” he said, adding that Pakistani troops returned fire.

“We fired back and the Indians stopped the firing.”

Earlier, police in Pakistani Kashmir said Indian forces twice mounted heavy mortar attacks in the Samahni sector on the Line of Control.

“The shelling was intense and without any provocation,” police Senior Superintendent Tariq Ajmi told AFP.

Mortar shells hit the villages of Dana and Kotli Khumba in Bhimber district, injuring three civilians including a woman, he said.

An army spokesman in Indian Kashmir had accused Pakistani troops of directing heavy mortar and machine-gun fire at Indian positions, causing panic among residents but no casualties.

Indian troops returned fire from their position in Nowshera, 420 kilometres (250 miles) southwest of Indian Kashmir’s summer capital Srinagar, he said.

Nowshera on the Indian side faces Bhimber in the northern part of Azad Kashmir.

The exchange of fire was the first since India accused Pakistani military intelligence of helping plan last Thursday’s suicide attack on the parliament building in New Delhi, which left 14 people dead, including the five gunmen.

New Delhi has demanded Islamabad take action against two Pakistan-based Kashmiri militant groups, Lashkar-i-Tayyaba and Jaish-i-Mohammad, for allegedly staging the operation.

Pakistan has denied any involvement of its intelligence services and warned India against taking reprisals.

Vajpayee told parliament that every effort would be made to avoid a war with Pakistan, but warned that his government was keeping all options open in response to the attack on parliament.

DPA ADDS: Pakistani Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar proposed Tuesday that India take the matter to the United Nations Security Council “for an impartial determination” as to who is to blame.