New Delhi: India on Saturday reacted with scepticism to the recent ‘crackdown’ by Pakistan against proscribed groups, describing it as watching an old script play out again.
This week, Pakistan took a series of steps, which, as per Pakistani media reports, are part of a “decisive” crackdown on banned terror outfits. Several facilities of Jamat-ud-Dawa (JuD), Falah-i-Insaniat Foundation (FiF) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) have been targeted and many terrorists detained, the Pakistani government has claimed.
However, the Indian government believes these actions to be cosmetic moves.
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“We are seeing the same script that has been played out earlier after the terrorist attacks on our Parliament in December 2001, the Mumbai terrorist attack in November 2008 and the attack on the Pathankot airbase in January 2016,” said foreign ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar.
He added that Pakistan’s claims to act against groups and individuals were confined to paper.
“Actually, terrorist groups and individuals continue their activities without hindrance. Pakistan has not shown any serious intent to address the legitimate concerns of India and the global community,” said Kumar.
Pakistan has claimed that its recent actions were dictated by observations made by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) – the international money-laundering watchdog – rather than any pressure from India. New Delhi had provided a dossier on JeM’s role in the Pulwama attack to Islamabad last month, but there has been no response to it yet.
Meanwhile, India criticised Pakistan’s narrative regarding action against JeM.
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“Despite the media interviews by Pakistan’s foreign minister and former President Musharraf acknowledging the presence of Jaish-e-Mohammed in Pakistan, the spokesperson of the Pakistan armed forces openly denied the presence of Jaish-e-Mohammed in Pakistan, in an interview on 6 March. This statement is sufficient proof that Pakistan still remains in a state of denial,” said Kumar.
He also took a dig at Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s claim – made in a BBC interview – that JeM had denied responsibility. “Is Pakistan defending the Jaish-e-Mohammed and acting as its spokesperson? Does Pakistan’s claim have any credibility?”
Referring to a slogan used by Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, Kumar said, “If Pakistan claims to be a naya (new) Pakistan with nayi soch, it should show naya action against terrorist groups and terror infrastructure on its soil and end cross-border terrorism in support of its claims”.
He also noted that Pakistan continued to propagate a “false narrative” over occurrences on February 27.
On Pakistan’s claims that two Indian planes were shot down, Kumar asked for video evidence. “Questions should be asked to them as to where the fuselage of the aircraft is and what has happened to the pilots.”
He reiterated that India had “eyewitness accounts and electronic evidence that Pakistan deployed F-16 aircraft and that one F-16 was shot down by wing commander Abhinandan”.
The US has also been asked to “examine” whether the use of F16s against India is in accordance with the terms and conditions of sale, added Kumar.
He did not directly answer questions on whether India will release evidence on claims of a “very large number” of casualties at Balakot or on the downing of an F-16 plane.
However, Kumar pointed to a recent report by Reuters, which noted that Pakistani authorities were still not allowing any media visits to the JeM madarsa in Balakot.
“The fact that Pakistan has now refused access to journalists from visiting the site means that they have plenty to hide,” he said.