ISLAMABAD – The Foreign Office on Friday rejected allegations made by India’s External Affairs Ministry that a drone was seen over the Indian High Commission compound in Islamabad.
FO Spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri issued the statement after the Indian ministry claimed that the drone was spotted on June 26.
“This has been taken up officially with Pakistan. We expect Pakistan to investigate the incident and prevent recurrence of such breach of security,” NDTV quoted the ministry’s statement as saying.
Pakistan FO said, “We have seen the Indian MEA’s statement and reports in certain sections of the Indian media alleging a drone flying over the premises of the Indian High Commission in Islamabad.”
Terming the Indian statement as preposterous claims, the spokesperson said that “no proof whatsoever has been shared with Pakistan to substantiate these allegations.”
He said that the Indian allegations comes at a time when evidence gathering in recently Lahore bombing was clearly hinting at “external forces with a history of perpetrating state-sponsored terrorism against Pakistan”.
“Pakistan rejects these patently false allegations and diversionary Indian tactics and will continue to stand by the people of [Illegally Indian-occupied Jammu & Kashmir] in their just struggle for the right to self-determination, as enshrined in the UNSC resolutions,” he said.
Earlier this week, Pakistan categorically rejectd the irresponsible and misleading statement by Indian Minister of State for Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy regarding an alleged drone attack in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).
While conveniently choosing not to share any evidence, the Indian government has once again leveled serious allegations against Pakistan. This is yet another manifestation of the unsubstantiated propaganda and smear campaign against Pakistan that is characteristic of the Indian government and an obliging Indian media.
This is a familiar Indian ploy to externalize any blame, use baseless allegations against Pakistan as a smokescreen, and seek to undermine the indigenous struggle for self-determination of the Kashmiri people.
The latest allegations further confirm what Pakistan has consistently pointed out that the BJP government stages “false flag” operations to malign Pakistan with terrorism-related allegations for narrow political gains. The use of Pakistan card either to win an election or to divert attention from an electoral defeat has also unfortunately become a standard practice.
Pakistan calls upon India to refrain from its reprehensible propaganda campaign as no amount of Indian falsehoods can succeed in diverting attention from India’s serious crimes in IIOJK.
