India looking for pretext for false flag operation: PM

By News Desk

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has rejected the baseless allegations by India of “infiltration” across the Line of Control, saying it is a continuation of India’s “dangerous agenda of a false flag operation targeting Pakistan”.

“I have been warning the world about India’s continuing efforts to find a pretext for a false flag operation targeting Pakistan,” the Prime Minister wrote in a tweet on Wednesday.

Khan’s remarks came after a flurry of allegations were made by Indian defence minister Rajnath Singh and military leadership — including their army chief — regarding “terrorist launch pads” on the Pakistani side of the LoC.

The Prime Minister said the indigenous Kashmiri resistance against Indian occupation was a direct consequence of India’s oppression and brutalisation of Kashmiris. “The fascist policies of the RSS-BJP combined are fraught with serious risks,” he stressed.

He said the international community “must act before India’s reckless moves jeopardise peace and security in South Asia”.

Following the tweet, the Prime Minister met Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Director General Lt-Gen Faiz Hameed and discussed matters pertaining to national security, said a press statement issued by the PM Media Office.

Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif also dismissed India’s claims. “Jingoism is written all over Modi’s DNA. Despite fight against Covid-19, incessant violations of LoC by Indian army have become a norm with 940 such incidents recorded this year alone,” Sharif tweeted. “Allegation of terror launching pads by India is meant to whip up propaganda against Pakistan.”

A day earlier, the Foreign Office said recent incidents in Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir are reflective of the “inescapable reality that India’s brutal campaign of violence and repression is meeting its logical consequences”.

In a press release, it said: “Attributing this indigenous Kashmiri resistance to any alleged ‘infiltration’ is a travesty. India’s typical allegations of ‘infiltration’ ring hollow also because all these incidents have taken place deep inside the Valley, several miles behind Indian military’s extensive Infiltrationgrid, comprising several layers of security.” Across the Line of Control (LoC), using the pretext of so-called “infiltration” and “launch pads”, Indian forces are deliberately targeting unarmed Pakistani civilians, including women and children. “This inhuman war tactic cannot be condemned enough,” the Foreign Office added.

“India cannot mislead the international community with its unfounded allegations and aggressive actions on the ground. Indian insinuations against Pakistan are patently designed to divert international as well as domestic attention from India’s grave human rights violations in IOJ&K, the treatment of Indian minorities, and mismanagement by the BJP government of Covid-19 related challenges.”

The Foreign Office had also called upon the international community to take cognisance of the threat to peace and stability in South Asia posed by India’s irresponsible rhetoric and belligerent posture. “The world must act to restrain India before the reckless policies of this ideologically-driven RSS-BJP dispensation cause grievous harm to regional peace and security,” it added.