India on Thursday denied claims by an aide to Pakistan’s prime minister, Imran Khan, that New Delhi had sent messages for the talks, saying Islamabad’s support for terrorism and hate speech by Pakistani leaders were not conducive to relations. normal.
Moeed Yusuf, Khan’s special assistant for national security and strategic policy, had said in an interview with Indian media that New Delhi had sent messages to Islamabad “wanting to talk” but declined to give details. It also set preconditions for any dialogue, including the release of political prisoners in Kashmir and the incorporation of Kashmiris into potential talks.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Anurag Srivastava dismissed Yusuf’s claims during a weekly press conference, saying: “Regarding the alleged message, let me clarify that no such message was sent from us.”
Srivastava described Yusuf’s comments on India’s internal affairs as an effort by Pakistan to “divert attention from the internal failings of the current government and mislead its national constituents by making India headlines on a daily basis.”
He asked Yusuf to “restrict his advice to [Pakistan’s] establishment and not commenting on the internal politics of India ”. He added: “The statements he made are contrary to the facts on the ground, misleading and fictitious.”
India has consistently linked any conversation with Pakistan to the question of Islamabad ending support for terrorist groups operating from its soil. The two sides have not had any structured dialogue since the 2008 Mumbai attacks, which were carried out by Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, although there have been sporadic contacts between the leaders of the two sides in the intervening years. since then.
The ties received a boost when Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a surprise visit to Lahore in December 2015 while returning to India from a trip to Afghanistan. The two sides agreed at the time to initiate a “comprehensive dialogue”, but these efforts fell into the background after a terrorist attack on the Pathankot air base in January 2016.
Srivastava reiterated India’s accusation that Pakistan “continues to support, assist and instigate cross-border terrorism against India” and has been resorting to unprovoked ceasefire violations along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir. to support terrorist infiltration.
“Pakistani leaders continue to indulge in inappropriate, provocative and hateful speech against India. That support for terrorism against India and the use of derogatory and abusive language are not conducive to normal neighborhood relations, ”he said.
During the interview, Yusuf blamed India for “deliberately delaying the submission of evidence and witnesses” for the trial of the seven men accused of participating in the Mumbai attacks so that it can use the issue to run down Pakistan against the world community.
He also brought various accusations against India, including funding the Pakistani Taliban and their involvement in a terrorist attack on an army school in Peshawar in 2014, but did not offer any concrete evidence to back up these claims.
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