Afghanistan, India deny Pakistan ‘terror’ allegations
KABUL: Kabul and New Delhi on Sunday denied Pakistan’s accusations that arch-rival India was funding “terror” groups and training them on Afghan soil.
The denial came a day after Islamabad said it had gathered “irrefutable” evidence, which it plans to present to the UN, of Indian involvement in “terrorist” activities impacting Pakistan.
Pakistani officials said India’s intelligence agencies had established a cell focused on attacking infrastructure projects being built by Pakistan’s neighbour and ally China, particularly in the restive western province of Balochistan.
“We expect the international community to force India to end its terrorism & bring to justice those responsible for killing thousands of innocent people in Pakistan,” Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Twitter.
A statement from Pakistan’s military said India was “training, harbouring and launching... terrorists into Pakistan,” from 87 training camps – 66 in Afghanistan and 21 in India.
Afghanistan’s foreign ministry denied the claim.
“The Afghan government explicitly declares that Afghanistan has been the main victim of terrorism in the world, and we are committed to the policy of combating all forms of terrorism,” the Afghan statement read.
New Delhi meanwhile called Pakistan’s allegations a “futile anti-India propaganda exercise”.
“The so-called claims of ‘proof’ against India enjoy no credibility, are fabricated and represent figments of imagination,” India’s ministry of external affairs said in a statement.
Relations between Islamabad and New Delhi hit a new low Friday as their two militaries exchanged artillery and machine-gun fire across their disputed frontier in Kashmir.
More than 13 people were killed and dozens more wounded in the incident that left homes destroyed and sent villagers fleeing.
The two sides regularly stage artillery duels across the socalled “line of control” and invariably blame each other.
Kashmir has been divided between the two countries since their angry separation in 1947. It has been a cause of two of their three wars since then.
Pakistan and China are working together on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in which Beijing is investing heavily in Pakistan’s infrastructure and developing a deep-water port, at Gwadar in the Arabian Sea.