Pakistan

‘Epicentre of terrorism’: Pakistan Army strongly reacts to Indian army chief for his remarks

Asks neighbouring country to refrain from “pandering to political exigencies”

Published 3 hours ago on Jan 15th 2025, 4:50 pm

By Web Desk

‘Epicentre of terrorism’: Pakistan Army strongly reacts to Indian army chief for his remarks

Rawalpindi: The Pakistan Army on Wednesday strongly reacted to the Indian army chief calling Pakistan the “epicentre of terrorism”.

According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), instead of trying to “conjure up non-existent terror infrastructure in Pakistan, it would be wise not to indulge in self-delusion”.

The statement came in response to Indian Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi’s remarks during a press conference on January 13, ahead of India’s Army Day, when he claimed that in 2024, “60 per cent of the terrorists eliminated” in Occupied Jammu and Kashmir were allegedly of Pakistan origin.

According to the Press Trust of India, General Dwivedi further alleged that “80pc of the remaining fighters in Indian-occupied Kashmir were of Pakistani origin”.

In a befitting response, the Pakistani military said: “Insinuating Pakistan as the epicentre of terrorism by the Indian Army chief is not only contrary to facts but also an exercise in futility to beat the dead horse of India’s default position — blaming Pakistan for Indigenous reaction to state-sponsored brutality. It is a classic case of extreme duplicity.”

Terming, it a classic case of extreme duplicity, the ISPR said, “ Remarks are an attempt to deflect world’s attention from India’s brutality in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), repression of minorities internally, and India’s trans-national repression”.

The General Officer, in his earlier stint in llOJK personally oversaw the most brutal repression of Kashmiris. Such politically motivated and fallacious statements reflect the extreme politicization of the Indian Army, it further said.

“The world is witness to India’s hate-speech conclaves that provoke genocide against Muslims. The international community is not oblivious to India’s transnational assassinations, and Indian Security Forces’ oppressive use of force against innocent civilians and gross human rights violations against unarmed Kashmiris. Such oppression has only served to strengthen the resolve of Kashmiris for their right of self-determination, enshrined in the UN Security Council Resolutions,” the statement said.

Instead of trying to conjure up a non-existent terror infrastructure in Pakistan, it would be wise not to indulge in self-delusion, and appreciate the ground reality. The sobering fact that a senior serving Indian military officer is in Pakistan’s custody, caught red-handed while orchestrating acts of terror against innocent civilians inside Pakistan, seems to have been conveniently ignored by the General.

“Pakistan takes strong exception to such baseless and unfounded statements.

Empathizing with the victims of Indian Army’s brutality, it is hoped that civility, professionalism, and norms of state-to-state behaviour would guide the conduct of Indian Army’s leadership, rather than pandering to political exigencies,” it further added..