A spokesperson offered no evidence for the claim after 26 people were killed on a train that was hijacked in Balochistan province on Tuesday.
Pakistan’s military has accused neighbouring India of sponsoring militant groups in the south-west of the country as survivors recounted their ordeal from an unprecedented attack that killed 26 passengers on a hijacked train.
The scope of the attack in Balochistan province underscores the struggles that Pakistan faces to rein in militant groups.
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Pakistan on Friday claimed that the hijacking of the Jaffar Express train earlier this week was carried out by “terrorists” who were communicating with “handlers in Afghanistan”, while alleging that India was the mastermind behind it.
“We must understand that in this terrorist incident in Balochistan, and others before, the main sponsor is eastern neighbour [India],” Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, the director general for the military’s media wing Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), said during a news conference in Islamabad.
Chaudhry also referred to the media coverage carried out by Indian mainstream channels, which relied on videos shared by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), the separatist group responsible for the attack, and accused them of using images generated by artificial intelligence or old incidents.
During the briefing which lasted more than an hour, Chaudhry, along with Balochistan’s Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti, offered some details of the military operation — named Operation Green Bolan — that culminated in the release of hundreds of passengers from the train following a 36-hour standoff that began on March 11.
According to Chaudhry, a total of 354 passengers were rescued, while 26 passengers and security officials were killed. In addition, 33 fighters belonging to the BLA were also killed. While the military had earlier said that 21 civilians or security personnel had been killed, Chaudhry stated that as security officials cleared the area, more injured individuals were found, some of whom later died
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Pakistan should look at its internal failures instead of pointing fingers and shifting blame, says MEA spokesperson; Pakistan claims Baloch rebels used Indian, Afghan weapons in their ambush of the train.
India pushed back against allegations made by the Pakistan Foreign Office and military establishment, who claimed that the Baloch militants were receiving support from India and Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. This was the largest attack by the Baloch rebels in nearly two decades.
“We strongly reject the baseless allegations made by Pakistan. The whole world knows where the epicentre of global terrorism lies. Pakistan should look inwards instead of pointing fingers and shifting the blame for its own internal problems and failures on others,” the Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.
Earlier, Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan blamed the attack on India. “India has been involved in terrorism in Pakistan in the particular attack on Jaffar Express,” he alleged, adding that “the terrorists had been in contact with their handlers and ring leaders in Afghanistan.”
