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A day after India dismissed as “lies” Pakistan’s allegations of Indian intelligence support to a deadly bus bombing in the restive Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa that killed 13 people, including nine Chinese nationals, Islamabad on Saturday said it will not accept New Delhi’s denial of its role in the attack.
At least 13 people, including nine Chinese engineers, were killed in the suicide attack in Dasu area of Upper Kohistan district last month following which Pakistan had ordered an investigation into it.
Addressing a press conference here on the completion of the probe, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi accused India’s Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) and Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security (NDS) of carrying out the attack.
India on Friday described as “lies” Pakistan’s allegations of Indian intelligence support to the bombing and said it is an attempt to deflect global attention from Islamabad’s role as the “epicenter” of regional instability and a “safe haven” for proscribed terrorists.
“We have seen reports on the absurd comments made by Foreign Minister of Pakistan on the incident in Dasu,” Spokesperson in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Arindam Bagchi said in New Delhi.
“This is yet another attempt by Pakistan to malign India, in a bid to deflect international attention from its role as the epicenter of regional instability and a safe haven for proscribed terrorists,” he said.
Bagchi said that India has been at the forefront of global efforts against terrorism in partnership with the international community, which is well aware of Pakistan’s credentials when it comes to terrorism.
“Such desperate attempts by Pakistan at peddling lies and propaganda will therefore find few takers,” he said.
Reacting to India’s sharp reaction, Pakistan’s Foreign Office said it categorically rejects the MEA’s remarks in connection with the bus blast.
We categorically reject the absurd remarks by the Indian MEA, denying India’s involvement in the recent Dasu terrorist attack, Foreign Office said in a statement on Saturday.
It said Pakistan has repeatedly presented “irrefutable evidence of India’s active planning, promoting, aiding, abetting, financing and execution of terrorist activities” in Pakistan.
We presented a detailed dossier to the international community last year. Recently, we presented evidence on India’s involvement in the Lahore attack, it said.
Thirteen people, including nine Chinese personnel, were killed and 27 others injured when the bomb exploded in a bus on July 14 carrying Chinese engineers at Dasu area of Upper Kohistan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province where a Chinese company is building a 4,300-megawatt hydropower project on the Indus river.
China also rushed a special team amid confusing signals from Pakistan that it could be a gas blast. Islamabad later admitted it was a bomb blast stating that traces of explosive substance was found from the scene.
