Islamabad: Pakistan asked India on Thursday to stop blaming it over this week’s attack on a police station in the Indian city of Gurdaspur.
Foreign Office spokesman Qazi Khalilullah told a media briefing that the accusations were “unfortunate” and stressed that cooperation between the two countries was needed to counter terrorism.
“Pointing fingers before investigation is not a healthy trend,” the spokesman said.
Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh reportedly told the Lok Sabha that the gunmen who stormed Gurdaspur police station and killed seven people in India’s Punjab had come from Pakistan
The Pakistani Foreign Office categorically rejected the “baseless allegations”.
“Pakistan regrets the unsubstantiated and unwarranted assertion that those involved in the Gurdaspur incident of July 27 had entered India from Pakistan and believes that the home minister’s provocative comments are a threat to peace and security of the region,” the FO spokesman said.
“We have noted with concern a continuing tendency of India to cast blame on Pakistan for any terrorist incident in its territory. In the Gurdaspur incident, blame was apportioned to Pakistan by the Indian media, even when the encounter with terrorists was still going on,” Khalilullah said.
The spokesman said: “To tackle terrorism, a cooperative approach is required and blame game and finger-pointing would be unhelpful.
“We urge the Government of India to refrain from making baseless allegations and work with Pakistan to eliminate terrorism from the region and create an environment of peace and amity in South Asia.”
Khalilullah said if the government of India has any concrete evidence in this case, the same may be shared with government of Pakistan,
The spokesperson also said India and Pakistan are in touch regarding the dates for the meeting between their respective national security advisers.
