Pak accuses India of ‘unsubstantiated terror allegations’

“We see Mumbai terror attack trial in Islamabad as a test of Pakistan’s sincerity in combating terrorism directed against India”, said MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup.

Noting that it has seen media reports about the Pakistan High court dismissing government’s petition seeking voice samples of 26/11 mastermind Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, Swarup said but India has not received any word on this through official channels.

“The planning, training and financing of the Mumbai terrorist attacks were done in Pakistan where 99 percent of the evidence is”, he said.

Talks between the Foreign Secretaries, loosely set for earlier this month, were delayed after the deadly attack by Pakistani terrorists at the Pathankot Air Force Base in the first week of January.

The decision to resume talks on these multiple fronts was taken when foreign minister Sushma Swaraj visited Islamabad on December 9 and announced, with her counterpart Sartaj Aziz, the resumption of a “comprehensive dialogue” India had suspended in 2013. We, therefore, would have expected India-France Joint statement on counter terrorism to acknowledge the fact that Pakistan has rendered enormous sacrifices while combating terrorism to make the world a safer and a better place. “India, Pakistan not calling off talks after Pathankot is a positive move”, the envoy said. “As of now, we do not have a mutually convenient date”, he said. He said India continued to play “cat and mouse” in ties with Pakistan.

However, Swarup said the government has not been able to confirm this development officially.

To a question about Taliban’s demand regarding removal of their names from the United Nations blacklist, he said the third meeting of the Quadrilateral Co-ordination Group of Afghanistan, Pakistan, the U.S. and China will be held in Islamabad on 06 February 2016 in which all issues relating to peace and reconciliation process in Afghanistan will be discussed by the group.

India gave “specific and actionable information” to Pakistan soon after the Pathankot attack reportedly carried out by Jaish-e-Mohammed militants on the intervening night of January 1 and 2 that killed seven Indian soldiers.