Lahore blast: India trying to divert attention from internal issues, says Qureshi

• FM Qureshi says Indian policy on Kashmir has failed.
• Says Modi government attempting to divert attention from its domestic mess.
• Adds Pakistan wants Afghan refugees should be settled in their homeland.

ISLAMABAD: India is trying to divert attention from its internal issues by sponsoring terrorism in Pakistan, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said Monday, when asked to comment on New Delhi’s involvement in the Lahore blast.

The foreign minister said that Pakistan will tell the world how India is funding terrorism in other countries.

“We will raise this issue at international forums,” FM Qureshi stressed, speaking to Geo Pakistan earlier today.

On Sunday, National Security Adviser Moeed Yusuf had said that the main mastermind behind the attack was an Indian citizen, that investigation had revealed, had links with India. 

“I want to make sure that our message is heard very clearly [regarding] this particular incident on the 23rd of June in Lahore. We have concrete evidence and intelligence, including financial and telephone records, which point to direct Indian sponsorship of these terrorists,” he had said while briefing the nation about the incident.

When asked about India’s Kashmir policy and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with Kashmiri politicians, FM Qureshi was of the view that New Delhi has failed completely and the Kashmiri leaders who met him had expressed anger over the situation in the occupied territory.

“India is grappling with the financial crisis, unemployment has increased there [occupied Kashmir] and to divert attention from their internal issues, they are doing this [sponsoring terrorism].”

About Afghanistan, Shah Mehmood Qureshi said Pakistan has served its Afghan brothers in their time of difficulty and now, it is time for them to return to their homeland.

India behind Lahore attack

Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, NSA Moeed Yusuf had shared detailed insights about the Indian hand behind Johar Town’s blast.

"I want to make sure that our message is heard very clearly [regarding] this particular incident on the 23rd of June in Lahore. We have concrete evidence and intelligence, including financial and telephone records that point to direct Indian sponsorship of these terrorists.

"Through forensic analysis, electronic equipment which has been recovered from these terrorists, we have identified the main mastermind and the handlers of this terrorist attack and we have absolutely no doubt or reservation in informing you that the main mastermind belongs to RAW, the Indian intelligence agency, is an Indian national, and is based in India," he had said.

Yusuf had said that he would like to remind everyone that "Indian use of territory and people of third countries, which actually embarrasses other countries, is not new".

"We have been constantly reminding the world of Indian actions, including a detailed dossier that was put out last November with details — minute details — of finances, of action, of support coming from India," the national security adviser had pointed out.

He also drew attention to the recent report by EU DisinfoLab, an international reputed organisation, which provides a detailed account of how "hundreds and thousands of fake outlets were being used to malign Pakistan, to spread misinformation about Pakistan, and to hide what is actually a clear terrorist sponsorship by a state against another state in our region".