Pakistan rejects propaganda by Indian leadership about terror financing

ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office (FO) on Monday rejected all references and insinuations by India’s leadership directed against Pakistan regarding terror financing.

In a statement, FO Spokesperson said that guided by its incorrigible and incurable desire to malign Pakistan, India continued to mislead the world about Pakistan’s counter-terrorism credentials by repeatedly leveling false accusations of the country’s alleged involvement in the financing of proscribed terrorist organizations.

“India’s hollow rhetoric has fallen flat in the face of Pakistan’s successful counter-terrorism measures, which have been accorded due recognition and acknowledgment from the premier international body on counter-terrorism, anti-money laundering, and terror financing, ie the Financial Action Task Force (FATF),” it said.

It said, “Our robust and credible AML/CFT actions and satisfactory implementation of  FATF Action Plans duly secured Pakistan’s successful removal off the Grey List, this October.”

The FO spokesperson also called out India for its “relentless terror campaign in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu & Kashmir (IIOJK)”.

“There is no justification for India’s state-sponsored terrorism in IIOJK, where its security forces terrorize, torment and torture innocent Kashmiris with impunity, every day,” it added.

The FO castigated India for “harbouring and protecting terrorists” by citing acquittal of various criminals by the Indian courts, including the main suspect of the 2007 Samjhauta Express blast that killed 43 Pakistanis and 11 convicts of the Bilkis Bano gang-rape case during the 2002 Godhra riots in Gujarat.

The FO stressed that India’s involvement in inciting terrorism inside Pakistan was widely established and documented. In November 2020, it said, Pakistan had released a comprehensive dossier providing evidence of India’s involvement in subversive activities in Pakistan.

It mentioned that the convicted serving Indian Naval commander Kulbhushan Yadav was undeniable proof of India’s direct involvement in sabotage and terror. Indian links to TTP and other elements inimical to Pakistan inside Afghanistan are also well known, it added.

The FO urged upon the international community to hold India accountable for its actions in IIOJK, its patronage of terrorist entities and for fomenting terror in neighboring countries.

It said that India was also advised to immediately reform and rectify its own credentials on terrorism and desist from shamelessly leveling false accusations against Pakistan for selfish political interests.