India slammed Pakistan for refusing to accept Pulwama as a terror attack and said that Islamabad is in denial

New Delhi: After Pakistan’s response on the dossier shared by India on Pulwama terror attack, New Delhi said it is disappointed at the response and added that Islamabad continues to remain in denial and even refuses to acknowledge Pulwama as a terror attack.

A statement released by the Ministry of External Affairs called out Pakistan for not sharing “details of credible action, if any, taken by it against terrorists or terrorist organisations based in territories under its control.”

India is hardly surprised at Pakistan’s response as it deploys a set script whenever any terror attacks take place in the neighbourhood be it Mumbai 2008 or Pathankot attack in 2016, the statement read.

The MEA further said that it is a well-known fact that the UN-designated terrorist organisation Jaish-e-Mohammed and its leader Masood Azhar are based in Pakistan which was even acknowledged recently to international media by Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi but the Imran Khan-led PTI government has not shown any intention or sincerity to take action against terror outfits.

"Pakistan should abide by the commitment it gave in 2004, and which its current leadership has recently repeated, vowing not to allow any territory under its control to be used for terrorism against India in any manner. Pakistan should take immediate, credible, irreversible and verifiable actions against terrorists and terror organisations operating from territories under its control," the statement further read. 

Yesterday, Pakistan had referred to Pulwama attack as "incident" and sought more evidence from India. Yesterday, Pakistan had said that the Indian dossier failed to prove link of JeM chief Masood Azhar with the Pulwama incident.

Pakistan called Indian envoy Ajay Bisaria and handed over the response.

The press release shared by Pakistan stated: “Pakistan has acted with a high sense of responsibility and extended full cooperation. We do so in the interest of regional peace and security. We have sought further information/evidence from India to take the process forward.”

40 CRPF Jawans were killed when JeM suicide bomber rammed his SUV into the convoy in which the Jawans were travelling. 

In response, India carried out preemptive high-precision airstrikes in Balakot and destroyed JeM terror camps in the area. The attack was carried out after Indian intelligence agencies received credible inputs that JeM was planning another Pulwama-like attack in the country.

While the Centre claimed that over 200-300 terrorists were killed in the strikes the IAF said that it had succeeded in fulfilling its objective.