Pakistan rejects India’s claims on ’terror boat’

Islamabad, January 6: Pakistan on Tuesday dismissed as “baseless and preposterous” Indian assertions linking Pakistan to the boat which exploded in the Arabian Sea in the early hours of January 1. Indian Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar was quoted on Monday as saying in New Delhi that “circumstantial evidence” indicated that the occupants of the vessel were “suspected or possible terrorists” and that they were in touch with Pakistani maritime officials and the army. The India exterl affairs ministry also levelled similar charges.

The Pakistani foreign ministry in a statement rejected a series of charges in the wake of escalating tension along the border, reports Xinhua.

“The baseless and preposterous Indian allegations regarding the so called ‘terror boat’ from Pakistan are also in the same vein,” a foreign ministry statement said. “On the other hand, the people of Pakistan see the escalation of tension by India on the Line of Control and Working (intertiol) Boundary, through continuous unprovoked firing and targeting of civilians, as an attempt to distract our armed forces from its valiant mission against all terrorists,” it said.

Pakistan also rejected as “equally baseless and malicious” the Indian foreign ministry spokesperson’s allegations regarding the “citings” of Punjabi/Urdu–speaking terrorist elements in Afghanistan. “India is reminded to refrain from attempts to create misunderstanding between Pakistan and Afghanistan, the two brotherly tions bound by common destiny, shared culture, history and religion,” the statement said and described these efforts as violation of all intertiol norms. (IANS)