Pakistan on Saturday said that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was directly running a terrorist cell against the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). The revelations were made in a joint press conference held by high-ranking officials of the government and the military in Islamabad.
According to a dossier shared by the government, an anti-CPEC terror cell had been operating from headquarters of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) – the premier intelligence agency of India, since 2015. “The cell functions under the direct supervision of PM [Modi] and is tasked to disrupt, undermine, and delay CPEC projects,” the dossier underlines.
Pakistan Foreign Office takes unprecedented step of identifying Indian PM, Modi, behind the “Terror Cell” that is funding, directing, organising & executing terror outfits & subnational across Pakistan -shares names, dates, details of attacks, $ & INR amounts for terror attacks!
— Moeed Pirzada (@MoeedNj) November 14, 2020
It further adds that the cell is involved in activities against CPEC through the use of proxy warriors and information attacks. Initially, the cell was allocated a sum of $500 million
(PKR 80 billion) to fund terror against CPEC, the Pakistan government has said.
The claims have been backed up by data on the rise in terror incidents in parts of Pakistan crucial to the economic corridor. For example, the dossier highlights that there has been a rise in terror attacks in Balochistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and Gilgit-Baltistan, since CPEC was officially announced in 2013.
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According to Islamabad, New Delhi wants to hurt Pakistan economically by undermining CPEC. As part of that strategy, India is making an effort to get Pakistan blacklisted Pakistan by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). In addition, India is also funding unrest in Pakistan by interference in domestic dynamics of the country.
The dossier has even named some of the terror outfits and domestic dissidents that India is sponsoring, including the amount of money poured into these groups, to hurt Pakistan. According to the figures provided by the government, some PKR 22 billion have been given to different outfits to terrorize Pakistan.
These include some PKR 2.88bn for the notorious Tehreek-e-Taliban-Pakistan (TTP), PKR 18.57bn for Balochi terrorists, and less than PKR 1bn for the Altaf Hussain Group and other militants in AJK and GB, primarily to hit CPEC.
India sponsoring terror in Pakistan: Qureshi
Foreign Minister (FM) Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Saturday said that India was directly sponsoring terrorists in order to destabilize Pakistan. FM Qureshi made the remarks while addressing a joint press conference with Director-General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major-General Babar Iftikhar in Islamabad on Saturday morning.
“You [media] can see that there is a pattern visible since some time wherein they [India] engages in ceasefire violations. The purpose of this press conference to unmask the true face of India in front of the national and international community,” FM Qureshi said.
“The journey that began with secularism has now morphed into fascism. It is clear for the whole world to see. The state that claimed to be the largest democracy in the world is now turning into a rogue state, evidenced by the actions it has taken in recent months,” he added.
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“We have reliable reports and supporting evidence which lends credence to our contention that India is fanning state terrorism. India has prepared a plan to destabilize Pakistan. This is not a new concern for [Pakistan],” the minister maintained.
“Pakistan has raised this issue on various international and diplomatic platforms, but now time has come to take the national and international community into confidence regarding this. It is no longer in the interest of Pakistan, or in the interest of the regional security and stability, to keep silent on the issue,” FM Qureshi noted.
“I believe that the Pakistani triumph against terrorism has been a bitter pill to swallow for India, and their plans have now been revealed. After 9/11, the world saw that Pakistan became a front line state against terrorism. In regards to this commitment against terror, Pakistan paid a heavy price. This is acknowledged, but not acknowledged enough,” he said.
“Pakistanis have faced 19,130 terror attacks between 2001-2020. More than 83,000 Pakistanis have died in this war, and 32,000 of these have been martyrs. Of these, 23,000 were civilians, including women and children. 9,000 were members of law enforcement agencies, including officers of the Pakistan Army,” he said.
“In terms of economic impact, Pakistan has suffered more than $126 billion in losses, according to conservative estimates. This does not include the cost of lost economic opportunities since it is not easy to calculate them. The world knows that when Pakistan was busy fighting the war on terror for world peace, India was building a terrorist network against Pakistan.”
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“India was using its soil to sponsor terror against Pakistan. It was also using the soil of neighboring countries for this purpose. Today, we have irrefutable facts that we will present before the national and international community in the form of this dossier,” the foreign minister said, holding up a document.
Tensions flare along LoC
The press conference followed a rise in tensions along the Line of Control (LoC) on Friday, as Indian troops resorted to unprovoked firing along the LoC, resulting in the martyrdom of five civilians and one solider from Pakistan Army. According to media reports, at least 30 civilians and five soldiers were injured in the different ceasefire violations by Indian troops.
The ISPR told the media on Friday that Pakistan Army had responded befittingly to the Indian aggression. Media reports from New Delhi claimed that at least ten Indian operatives were killed, and scores injured in incidents of firing along the LoC.
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Several videos of burning houses on the Pakistan side of the LoC as a result of unprovoked Indian shelling were shared on social media on Friday, provoking strong reactions from local and international media.