Pakistan rejects India’s ‘charge sheet’ in Pulwama attack case

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has rejected the charge sheet filed by India’s National Investigation Agency in the Pulwama attack case, saying that the mendacious report was designed to further the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) anti-Pakistan rhetoric and its narrow domestic political interests.

Foreign Office (FO) spokesperson Zahid Chaudhri in a statement said that Pakistan categorically rejected the “so-called ‘charge sheet'” by the NIA which “mischievously attempts to implicate Pakistan in the Pulwama attack” in Indian-occupied Kashmir.

At the outset, Pakistan had rejected India’s baseless allegations and expressed readiness to extend cooperation on the basis of any actionable information.

India failed to provide any credible evidence for its invective and has instead been using the attack for its malicious propaganda campaign against Pakistan, the spokesman said.

Earlier, the Indian investigation agency had filed a 13,500-page report before a special court in which it named 19 people who it said allegedly carried out the attack at Pakistan’s behest, Hindustan Times reported.

Officials said the charge sheet had “irrefutable evidence” — technical, material and circumstantial — on Pakistan’s role in the attack, the report added.

The FO spokesperson said the timing of the Pulwama attack, just two months before the Lok Sabha elections in India, the fact that the explosives used in the attack were collected from inside occupied Kashmir, and that the key accused persons in the attack have already been killed by Indian forces, “raise too many questions”.

“The world knows well as to who benefited the most from the Pulwama attack and drew electoral dividends,” he said.

Indian military aircraft engaged in belligerent action against Pakistan on February 26, 2019, the statement added.

Zahid Chaudhry further said in response to a paper shared by the Indian government following the Pulwama attack, Pakistan constituted a high-level investigation team to examine its contents.

“As the information provided by India was incomplete, patchy and unsubstantiated, Pakistan shared two aides-memoir, seeking further information and supporting evidence from India”.

“India has been unable to provide any corroboration of its unfounded allegations. India cannot mislead the world community with its motivated propaganda,” the press release said.

Indian allegations against Pakistan seek to divert attention from India’s state terrorism and grave human rights violations in occupied Kashmir, and the “RSS-BJP regime’s mishandling of domestic issues”, it added.

“Pakistan has been forewarning the international community about India’s use of a ‘false flag’ operation and possible ill-conceived misadventure.

“With the approaching state elections in India, the RSS-BJP ploy of raising the Pakistan bogey again for making electoral gains is palpable. We warn the world community again to be cognisant of its dangerous consequences for peace and security in the region,” Chaudhry added.