Pakistan Army says India gave no evidence on Pahalgam terror attack

Pakistan minister Aqeel Malik has said Islamabad is preparing international legal action over India’s suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty

NEW DELHI: The Pakistani military said on Tuesday that India has provided no evidence regarding the Pahalgam terror attack even as it accused the Indian Army of being involved in “state-sponsored terrorism” against Pakistan.

Chaudhry presented what he said were several audio recordings of purported conversations between terrorists and Indian Army personnel

The allegations were levelled by chief military spokesperson, Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, during a media briefing. The head of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) presented what he claimed were audio recordings of purported conversations and messages between a Pakistani citizen trained for terror attacks and his Indian handlers.

There was no immediate response from Indian officials to Chaudhry’s claims at the televised media briefing. India has unveiled a raft of punitive measures against Pakistan, including the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty and closure of the only operational land border crossing at Attari, over the “cross-border linkages” to the Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 people.

Chaudhry contended at the media briefing that India has not shared any evidence so far. “Seven days have passed since [the] Pahalgam incident, but so far there has been no shred of evidence that has been provided to support the baseless allegations being made against Pakistan,” he said.

Instead, he claimed, the Pakistani side has evidence of India operating a “terror network inside Pakistan”, in which explosives, IEDs and other materials are being provided to terrorists to target not only military but also innocent civilians”.

Chaudhry presented what he said were several audio recordings of purported conversations between terrorists and Indian Army personnel and messages between them on encrypted messaging apps regarding four terrorist attacks carried out since last year. He also claimed an “Indian-trained and sponsored terrorist”, a Pakistani citizen named Abdul Majeed, was arrested on April 25.

Chaudhry provided only vague details about three Indian Army personnel he claimed were purportedly involved in these activities.

As tensions intensified between the two countries over the terror attack, Pakistan’s minister of state for law and justice Aqeel Malik said Islamabad is preparing international legal action over India’s suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty.

Malik told Reuters that Pakistan was working on plans for three different legal options, including raising the issue with the World Bank, which brokered the treaty in 1960 and plays a role in resolving disputes.

Pakistan is also considering taking action at the Permanent Court of Arbitration or at the International Court of Justice in the Hague, where it could allege that India has violated the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, Malik said.

“Legal strategy consultations are almost complete,” Malik said. A decision will be made “soon” on which cases to pursue and it is likely Pakistan will pursue more than one avenue, he said.

Malik said a fourth diplomatic option that Pakistan is considering is to raise the matter at the United Nations Security Council. “All the options are on the table and we are pursuing all appropriate and competent forums to approach,” he said.

Relations between Pakistan and India plummeted to a fresh low following the terror attack on tourists. This was the deadliest attack on civilians in Jammu and Kashmir since 2000. The Resistance Front, a proxy of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) denied involvement in the attack after an initial message claimed responsibility.

While Islamabad has said that any attempt to stop or divert the flow of water allocated to Pakistan under the Indus Waters Treaty will be seen as an “act of war”, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has offered to participate in a “neutral, transparent and credible investigation” into the terror attack.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pledged that those responsible for the attack will be pursued “to the ends of the earth”. Speaking at a rally in Bihar last week, he said that India “will identify, track and punish every terrorist and their backers”. People familiar with the matter said the prime minister on Tuesday gave the armed forces “complete operational freedom” to decide on a response.