NEW DELHI: The government on Friday accused Pakistan of “targeting places of worship” In India and said several “gurudwaras, convents and temples” along the border in Jammu and Kashmir were damaged by Pakistani shelling.
“We have seen the Pakistani side targeting and shelling the places of worship with a particular design. It included Gurudwaras, convents and temples. This is a new low even for Pakistan,” said Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri in a joint briefing with Colonel Sofiya Qureshi and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh.
The strained ties between India and Pakistan broke down after 26 people were killed in a deadly terror attack in Pahalgam on April 22.
Pakistan’s attack on places of worship and its “preposterous” attempts to put the blame on Indian armed forces is reflective of Islamabad’s evil design and efforts to deceive and mislead the world, Misri said.
“Another Pakistani shell struck a Christian convent of nuns belonging to the congregation of Mother Carmel, damaging water tanks and destroying solar panel infrastructures. Nuns, school staff and local residents took refuge in an underground hall beneath the school during the shelling by Pakistan. The school was closed at the time of the incident, fortunately. Otherwise, more losses would have occurred,” Misri added.
Citing Pakistan’s attack on a gurdwara in Amritsar and its subsequent attempt to blame it on Indian armed forces, Misri said Islamabad’s thinking that India would attack its own cities is the kind of “deranged fantasy” that only the Pakistani state can come up with.
He blasted Pakistan’s provocative and escalatory actions to try and target Indian cities and civilian infrastructure using drones last night.
The Foreign Secretary hit out at Pakistan for its “blatantly farcical denial” of these attacks saying it is yet another example of Islamabad’s duplicity and the “new depths” that it is plumbing to in its “quest for disinformation”.
Misri came down heavily on Pakistan for targeting religious places with an aim to give a communal colour to the current situation, and pointed to an incident of Pakistan attacking a gurdwara in Poonch and another religious place in Amritsar.
“This is nothing but a desperate attempt by Pakistan to disown its acts of aggression; but it is also true to its efforts to deceive and mislead the world. It will not succeed,” Misri said.
He said that “we would attack our own cities” is the kind of deranged fantasy that only the Pakistani state can come up with. Perhaps they do it because they are well versed in such action as their history would show, he said.
Misri described it as a “blatant lie” Pakistan’s allegations of India targeting the Nankana Sahib Gurdwara using a drone.
“This is again yet another blatant lie and part of Pakistan’s disinformation campaign. As we saw in the Pahalgam attack, Pakistan is again trying desperately to impart a communal hue to the situation with an intention to create discord,” he said.
“Again, we are not surprised. India’s steadfast unity in itself is a challenge to Pakistan,” he said.
Misri said in view of the existing security scenario, the Kartarpur Sahib corridor has been suspended.
On India’s strikes on Bahawalpur’s Markaz Subhan Allah -” the nerve centre of Jaish-e-Mohammed linked to the killing of Daniel Pearl, a journalist with The Wall Street Journal, Misri said the terror outfit was “directly or indirectly” responsible for his death.
“Bahawalpur is the headquarters of the Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist group that is proscribed by the UN. Its leader Masood Azhar, is a proscribed individual,” he said while responding to a question during the media briefing.
“But the real connection is through Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, the British Pakistani jihadi who was held in India but was finally released in 2000 and he was the person who lured Daniel Pearl to his...murder,” Misri said.