ISLAMABAD: New Delhi should abjure its policy of state terrorism in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) and against Muslims in India instead of hurling baseless allegations against Pakis­tan, the Foreign Office said in a statement on Monday.

The Foreign Office (FO) issued the statement in a riposte to Indian External Affairs Minister Subra­hma­n­yam Jaishankar’s “irrespo­n­sible and gratuitous rem­arks” made at Vadodara last week in which he accused Pakistan of involvement in international terrorism.

The FO urged New Delhi to allow Kashmiris to exercise their right to self-determination in accordance with their aspirations and UN Sec­urity Council resolutions.

The statement called upon the international community to hold India accountable for its patronage of terrorist entities and for instigating unrest in neighbouring countries.

The FO described Mr Jaishankar’s remarks as a manifestation of Indian leaders’ obsession to concoct facts for misleading the international community in an attempt to mask New Delhi’s acts of terrorism and violations of human rights.

Nowhere is India’s state terrorism more evident than in occupied Kashmir, the FO statement stressed, recalling that over 900,000 troops terrorise, torture, and torment innocent Kashmiris with impunity.

The world is aware of the saffron terror orchestrated and unleashed by the BJP-RSS combine against Muslims in India, the Foreign Office said.

“Pakistan’s contribution to world peace, from successful counter-terrorism operations to our role in the global fight against terrorism, is widely acknowledged by the international community.

“Pakistan is the only country that has stemmed the tide of terror directed against it from elements and states with inimical motives.” the FO statement said.

“In reality, India has been involved in supporting terrorism against Pakistan from its own territory and from other countries in the region.

“India’s mischievous campaign to masquerade as a ‘victim’ of terrorism and seeking to hoodwink the world community by hypocritically levelling allegations against Pakistan is pathological,” the Foreign Office said.

It cited as example the arrest in Pakistan of Kulbhushan Jadhav, a serving Indian navy officer who was involved in “planning, supporting, abetting and executing terrorist activities in Pakistan”.

“Jadhav is a stark reminder of India’s true face as a state sponsor of terrorism.”

According to The Hindu newspaper, India’s external affairs minister said in a speech in Vadodara on Saturday: “No other country practises terrorism in the manner in which Pakistan does. You show me anywhere in the world what Pakistan has done for so many years against India.”

According to the newspaper, Jaishankar said India was recognised as an “expert in information technology”, whereas Pakistan was known as an “expert in international terrorism”.

Published in Dawn, October 4th, 2022