- Says Pakistan will strike with full force with no leniency, stressing attacking non-combatants unacceptable
- FO says a member of Indian HC staff declared persona non grata, asked to leave Pakistan
ISLAMABAD: Defense Minister Khawaja Asif on Thursday declared that the two major terrorist groups—the Balochistan Liberation Army and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (Finta al-Khawarij) are “Indian proxies,” and Pakistan will present “complete evidence” to prove New Delhi’s involvement in the attack on a school bus in Balochistan’s Khuzdar that claimed the lives of three children and injured several others.
“There is credible evidence the proscribed Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) is working as an Indian proxy, and we will corroborate whatever we have claimed of India’s involvement,” the Defense Minister stated while talking to a private TV channel late the other night.
Kh Asif asserted that the relationship between the BLA and India was well-known, as their leadership was in New Delhi.
Six people, including three students, were killed, and over 40 others — mostly students — were injured when an “explosives-laden vehicle was rammed into a school bus” near Zero Point in Khuzdar on the Quetta-Karachi Highway while transporting students to the Army Public School in Khuzdar Cantonment.
According to security officials and doctors, the condition of at least a dozen of the injured is serious due to critical injuries, which include at least 15 girl students. Security forces vowed to “relentlessly pursue” the culprits of the attack as Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir visited the injured in Quetta yesterday.
The Defense Czar further said, “BLA and TTP are Indian proxies, and they have nothing to do with religion or nationalism, as they are being financed by India, and they’re involved in bloodshed here.”
In reply to a question on dealing with the situation, the minister said that “Pakistan will strike with full force and there will be no leniency,” stressing that attacking non-combatants, including school children, was unacceptable.
Asif said Pakistan called for an investigation into the Pahalgam attack, which India didn’t agree to, adding that the world should be informed that the Modi-led regime was “very irresponsible for using a false incident as a pretext to wage a nuclear war”.
He said Pakistan “will not start nuclear confrontation but cannot stay silent if nuclear devices are thrown at us.”
“Pakistan showed restraint, but still India attacked our bases in the dark of the night,” he highlighted.
A day ago, the military’s media wing, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), also said that “Indian terror proxies are being employed as a state tool by India to foment terrorism in Pakistan against soft targets such as innocent children and civilians.”
It noted that India had “failed” against Pakistan’s Operation Bunyanum Marsoos during the recent conflict, and its [proxies] were “being hunted [down] by military and law enforcement agencies.”
“Use of terrorism as a state policy by [the] Indian political government is abhorrent and reflective of their low morality and disregard of [sic] basic human norms,” the ISPR said.
“Planners, abettors, and executors of this cowardly Indian-sponsored attack will be hunted down and brought to justice, and [the] heinous face of India will be exposed in front of the entire world,” the military vowed.
On Monday, the ISPR said 12 terrorists of “Indian proxy” outfits were killed by security forces in separate engagements in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.
Last month, ISPR Director General Lt Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said India was activating its “assets” to intensify terrorist attacks in Pakistan. He had detailed the arrest of a Pakistani terror suspect allegedly trained by India as “irrefutable evidence” of state-sponsored terrorism directed by Indian military personnel.
Indian HC staff member declared persona non grata
Separately, the Foreign Office said that a staff member of the Indian High Commission in Islamabad was declared persona non grata for “engaging in activities inconsistent with his privileged status.”
“The concerned official has been directed to leave Pakistan within 24 hours,” the FO said in a post on X in the early hours of Thursday.
The FO added that the Indian Chargé d’Affaires was called to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to convey the decision.
“It was stressed that none of the diplomats or staff members of the Indian High Commission should misuse their privileges and status in any manner,” FO said.
The decision comes after India yesterday declared a Pakistani official persona non grata for engaging in activities not consistent with his official status in the country and asked him to leave India within 24 hours.
A statement from the Indian Ministry of External Affairs said, “Charge d’Affaires, Pakistan High Commission, was issued a demarche to this effect today. He was asked to strictly ensure that none of the Pakistani diplomats or officials in India misuse their privileges and status in any manner.”
