Hina Rabbani Khar says no country has used terrorism better than India

  • Perpetrators of terrorism acting as its victims, says Minister of State for Foreign Affairs
Updated 14 Dec, 2022

Pakistan said that it will "relentlessly" pursue the matter of India being involved in Lahore's Johar Town blast that killed three people and injured 22 others in June last year.

In a presser on Wednesday, Pakistan’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar said that she wished she was here to talk about SAARC's economic development, adding that instead, she will talk about state-sponsored terrorism.

She said "we are at a unique place where perpetrators of terrorism are acting as victims of terrorism". She said no one "is willing to call the bluff and call out the hypocrisy".

She further said the foreign secretary called the diplomatic corp and shared the “dossier” with them regarding the Johar Town blast.

"This dossier, as you already know, has details — evidence of how India has been found to be fully behind this particular incident which led to the loss of lives," she said.

"We waited till we had strong hard evidence to be making the case we are making today.”

The minister added that the evidence reflects India’s persistent hostility towards Pakistan and the use of terrorist proxies to achieve terrorist objectives.

Khar went on to say that while some of the perpetrators of the attack had been brought to justice, the “masterminds and the facilitators” remained at large and “under Indian state patronage and protection”.

She said India’s objective was to undermine Pakistan’s peace and security through terrorism, adding “no country had used terrorism better than India.

Clear evidence India behind Lahore's Johar Town blast: Rana Sanaullah

The minister said India continued to operate as a “rogue state”, adding that a country that tries to deny the existence of Security Council resolutions "shows what type of a mindset this country has”.

"India has been paralysing the UNSC sanctions regime by blocking listing of Indian terrorists actively aided and financed by the Indian state," she said, naming Indian nationals Govinda Patnaik, Parthas Arti, Rajesh Kumar and Dumgara whose names were blocked.

On Tuesday, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah had also said that there was “clear evidence” that India was involved in Lahore's Johar Town blast.

Addressing a press conference in Islamabad along with Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) Additional IG Punjab Imran Mehmood, Sanaullah announced raising the matter in the United Nations (UN).

He said that Pakistanis had given innumerable sacrifices in the wave of terrorism that has gripped the country over the decades.

"This incident took place some time back and we have caught all the culprits related to this. India has to some extent accepted the responsibility for it," he said.

The CTD official, while briefing on the progress in the investigation of Lahore’s Johar Town blast, said the prime suspect Sami ul Haq was arrested from Balochistan.

"During the investigation, we learned that he was an agent of the Indian spy agency RAW since 2012," he claimed.

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