ISLAMABAD: Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has said that two major terrorist groups operating in Pakistan were “Indian proxies”, adding that Islamabad will present “complete evidence” to prove New Delhi’s involvement in the attack on a school bus in Balochistan’s Khuzdar district that killed three children and injured several others.
At least six people, including three students, were slain while over 40 others — mostly students — sustained injuries after a bomb targeted the bus near Zero Point in Khuzdar on the Quetta-Karachi highway when it was on its way to drop the students at the Army Public School in Khuzdar Cantonment.
The condition of at least a dozen is said to be serious due to critical injuries, officials said, adding that at least 15 girl students were among the injured. 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.
Speaking on Geo News programme ‘Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath’, Asif asserted there was evidence that the proscribed Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) was working as an Indian proxy.
“We will present evidence of India’s involvement. We will corroborate whatever we have claimed,” he said.“The relation between BLA and India is well-known as their leadership is in New Delhi. The allegation against us was unsubstantiated but BLA is fighting like an Indian proxy,” he added.
He was referring to the Pahalgam attack last month in occupied Kashmir that killed 26 people, following which India, without evidence, had blamed Pakistan for backing the attackers.Asif further said, “BLA and TTP are Indian proxies. They have nothing to do with religion or nationalism, India is financing them 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 Narendra Modi-led regime was “very irresponsible for using a false incident as a pretext to wage a nuclear war”.
