A top foreign ministry official said Wednesday that Pakistan has traced “undeniable” and “indisputable” links between India and acts of terrorism on Pakistani soil, and that the evidence is being formally shared with the United Nations.
Hina Rabbani Khar, the deputy foreign minister, told a news conference in Islamabad that the “dossier” being shared contains "details and evidence" of New Delhi’s role in a deadly 2021 car bombing in the Pakistani city of Lahore, among other incidents of terrorism.
“We waited until we had strong, hard evidence to be making the case we are making today,” Khar said.
The bombing killed four people and wounded many more.
“We have shared, or in the process of sharing, the copies of the dossier with the members of the U.N. Security Council and with the U.N. secretary-general,” she said.
“We hope that they would look into this evidence and fulfill their responsibility,” Khar stated, adding that the victims of the Lahore blast “look towards all of us for justice.”
The minister noted the Pakistani suspects linked to the violence had already been prosecuted and convicted, alleging the facilitators and mastermind of the bombing are based in India.
"We would want India to hand them over … and if India is a responsible nation, they will cooperate," she said. Khar added that Islamabad was also making efforts, with the help of Interpol, to arrest the Indian suspects.
Officials in India did not immediately respond to Pakistan’s allegations.
The attack
The Lahore attack took place near the residence of an Islamist leader, Hafiz Saeed, the founder of the outlawed Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group blamed for the deadly 2008 attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai.
Saeed denies Indian allegations that he masterminded the carnage, which killed 166 people, including foreigners. He is currently serving a prison term in Pakistan on charges of financing anti-India militants.
Khar spoke a day before India, the current president of the U.N. Security Council, is set to chair a meeting of the 15-nation body on the way forward for a global counter-terrorism approach.
Accusations
New Delhi has long accused Islamabad of harboring and funding militant groups blamed for terrorist attacks on Indian soil, allegations Pakistan denies.
India has regularly urged Pakistan to bring the perpetrators of the Mumbai bloodshed to justice.
Pakistani officials maintain their Indian counterparts have not shared enough evidence to ensure a successful prosecution of several suspects in custody.
India and Pakistan routinely accuse each other of sponsoring subversive acts inside their territories, allegations both the nuclear-armed South Asian archrivals deny.
