ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Wednesday rejected the “baseless, misleading, and unwarranted” statement by India’s Ministry of External Affairs on Pakistan’s military action targeting terrorist infrastructure in Afghanistan.
On Monday nighgt, Pakistan conducted targeted and precise airstrikes on terrorist infrastructure in Kabul and Nangarhar as part of counter terrorism operation Ghazab lil-Haq. Pakistan targeted ‘Camp Phoenix’ — a former US military base currently being used by Afghan Taliban.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs described Pakistan’s strikes as a “direct threat” to regional peace and stability.
In response, Pakistan’s Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said, “Pakistan rejects the baseless, misleading, and unwarranted statement issued by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs on Pakistan’s ongoing action against terrorist infrastructure in Afghanistan.”
“Against the backdrop of India’s active sponsorship of terrorism directed at Pakistan from Afghan soil, as well as its historical role as a spoiler, this statement merely reflects India’s blatant hypocrisy and duplicity,” the spokesperson said.
The Foreign Office spokesperson recalled that the statement emanated “from a country whose leadership remains unaccountable despite instrumentalising Islamophobia for domestic electoral gain and perpetrating pogroms against its Muslim population”.
“Only a few weeks ago, its leadership pledged full and unequivocal support to another occupying power responsible for the ongoing killing of thousands of innocent Palestinians,” the spokesman said.
Spokesperson Andrabi further said that “it is preposterous for a state that has historically undermined the sovereignty and territorial integrity of its neighbouring countries, in violation of international law and the principles of the United Nations Charter, to comment on the upholding of such principles”.
“Such statements cannot divert attention from the fact that India has been, and continues to, suppress and deny the right to self- determination of Kashmiris in Jammu and Kashmir, in violation of relevant UN resolutions,” he said.
He noted that India must refrain from supporting and sponsoring terrorist groups operating from Afghan soil, including those listed under the UN Security Council sanctions list.
“In this regard, India should cease its misplaced lament over Pakistan’s successful counter-terrorism measures,” Andrabi said.
On Tuesday, Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said that an ammunition storage facility was among the targets hit in the Afghan capital.
Tarar said that Pakistan conducted six “precise, deliberate and professional” strikes in Kabul and Nangarhar on Monday night, as part of Islamabad’s Operation Ghazab lil-Haq, to dismantle terrorist infrastructure that was facilitating attacks on Pakistani soil.
As with established practice, all six strikes were promptly put out with video footage by the information ministry, making the nature of the targets plain for all to see, the minister noted.
“The visuals leave no room for doubt,” he said, adding the flames and secondary detonations witnessed in Kabul further confirm that the intended ammunition storage site was hit.
