Pakistan charges of sub-national movements support is smear campaign: India

New Delhi: Pakistan, at last week’s meet of Financial Action Task Force (FATF), accused Delhi of supporting sub-national movements which the Modi government described as a smear campaign.

Pakistan attempted to dodge India‘s 28 queries on anti-terror financing by accusing Delhi of funding terrorist organizations in its country in a tacit reference to Baloch groups, ET has learnt.

Islamabad alleged that “hostile agencies” were fuelling terrorism by funding sub-national terrorist groups in Pakistan. “This is an emerging pattern.”

“The government in Islamabad has launched a campaign from Karachi to Sydney to accuse India of orchestrating terror strikes in Pakistan,” claimed a person familiar with Pakistan.

India on its part at the FATF, not only accused Pakistan of trying to “mainstream” terrorist organizations, but also asked Islamabad to “look inwards” and take “credible actions” against “terror infrastructure” in its own territory. India’s delegation at the meeting questioned the credibility of the report submitted by Pakistan.

Islamabad recently had also accused Delhi of funding the November 23, 2018, terror attack on the Consulate General of China in Karachi. Amir Shaikh, police chief of the port-city, said that the investigation into the attack revealed that it had been carried out by separatist Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA). Shaikh also told journalists in Karachi that the attack had been planned in Afghanistan and funded by India.

Three terrorists had tried to storm into the Consulate General of China in Karachi on November 23 last year, but they had been stopped and shot dead by the police personnel. Two police officers and two civilians, who had gone to the consulate to apply for visas, had also been killed during the exchange of fire. The BLA had later claimed responsibility for the attack.

The BLA and other Baloch organizations in Pakistan have been opposing the $62 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a flagship project of Belt and Road Initiative

They accused Beijing of helping Islamabad exploit the natural resources of Balochistan, without ensuring adequate benefit to the indigenous people of the province.

The Ministry of External Affairs has rejected the “fabricated and scurrilous attempts” by Pakistan to accuse India for the attack on the Consulate General of China in Karachi. “Instead of maliciously pointing fingers at others for such terrorist incidents, Pakistan needs to look inwards and undertake credible action against support to terrorism and terror infrastructure in its territories,” Raveesh Kumar, spokesperson of the MEA, said.

Delhi suspects that Islamabad’s move to blame it for the terror attack on Chinese Consulate in Karachi is aimed at spoiling current CBMs in Sino-Indian ties.