After failing to divert the attention from the Mumbai terror strikes, Pakistan concocted a ludicrous story in an attempt to push Indian into a tight corner.
NEW DELHI: After failing to divert the world’s attention from the Mumbai terror strikes, Pakistan on Thursday concocted a ludicrous story in an attempt to push Indian into a tight corner.
Intelligence sources in Pakistan claimed to have arrested an Indian man and two others in connection with a blast in Lahore on Wednesday night, which killed one person and injured at least six. Officials said the man was an Indian saboteur sent to carry out terrorist strikes in Pakistan.
India has so far refused to react to what a senior official called “a ridiculous charge”.
“They seem to think up new accusations everyday,” he said. “First it was troop mobilisation on the border. Then it was the hoax call [supposedly from Pranab Mukherjee] to Zardari followed by air intrusion by Indian fighters. Now, finally, they have produced an Indian terrorist.”
The official said this was a plain attempt to divert attention from the Mumbai terror strikes and focus on the growing India-Pakistan tension. “It falls into a pattern,” he said.
Indian officials also believe this may have been a response to the arrest of a Pakistani soldier in Kashmir.
Meanwhile, Islamabad has denied consular access to Mohammed Ajmal Amir, the lone terrorist captured alive by the Mumbai Police. Reacting to Ajmal’s letter, reports quoted interior ministry official Rehman Malik as saying that no legal help would be provided till ample proof of his being a Pakistani was provided by India.
“An examination of the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) provided no records on any national named Mohammed Ajmal Amir Iman alias Kasab,” Mallik reportedly said.
With nationalist feeling against India pumped up to fever pitch by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), an extension of the army, the Pakistani government and politicians have been left with no option but to follow its lead. A resolution adopted by the national assembly on Wednesday reflected this. It urged the international community to “close terror hubs and stop anti-Pakistan propaganda” by India.
The resolution, which came after several days of a staggered debate on national security, supported the government’s efforts to defuse tension with India after the Mumbai terror strikes. It said the nation and its armed forces “shall together defend Pakistan’s security at all costs”.
“With the heavens falling on their head and the ultra-nationalist sentiments propagated by the army, the politicians have no choice but to adopt such a resolution,” said former foreign secretary Salman Haider.
Despite Islamabad’s best efforts to project the current tension as an India-Pakistan issue, the world has refused to buy that line, he said. Instead, New Delhi’s view that terror groups in Pakistan are a threat not just to India but to the world community has found resonance in the US and Europe.
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