Pakistan Thursday said it has found no links between the people swept up in a recent dragnet and a suicide attack in Indian-held Kashmir last month that brought the nuclear-armed rivals to the brink of war.
The announcement by Foreign Office comes after India provided Pakistani officials with a list of 90 suspected militants and 22 locations of alleged training camps. “While 54 detained individuals are being investigated, no details linking them to Pulwama have been found so far,” the Foreign Office said. “Similarly, the 22 pin locations shared by India have been examined. No such camps exist,” it said, adding that Pakistan was ‘willing to allow visits, on request, to these locations’. Foreign Office Spokesman Dr Faisal said the Indian dossier has failed to prove link of Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar with the Pulwama incident, and offered to continue to extend cooperation on the matter of provision of ‘actionable evidence’. He told reporters here at the weekly press briefing that a 10-member investigative committee constituted by Pakistan government has found no connecting dots that can prove link of any Pakistani including Masood Azhar to the Pulwama tragedy.
The spokesman said only three out of six parts of India’s 91-page dossier pertains to the Pulwama incident, while one-third names of the 90 persons mentioned are ‘mere repetition’. “Pakistan in its reply to dossier has informed India that it is still ready to cooperate on provision of any actionable evidence that will sustain or clear the threshold of Pakistani courts,” he said. He mentioned that all aspects of the information provided by India were thoroughly examined including the ‘confessional’ video of Adil Dar, ‘claim’ of responsibility for the attack, WhatsApp and telegram numbers used to share videos and messages in support of Pulwama attack, list of 90 individuals suspected of belonging to a proscribed organization and 22 pin locations of the alleged training camps.
On a resolution tabled by the United States in the UN Security Council seeking freezing of Masood Azhar’s bank accounts, the spokesman said such listing is a purely technical issue for which the UNSC 1267 Sanctions Committee is the appropriate forum. He regretted that the resolution was moved in the UNSC at a time when the matter was under consideration by the 1267 Sanctions Committee and added that such efforts to circumvent the established machinery will only weaken the 1267 regime.
He said Pakistan remains committed to fulfill its obligation under the UNSC’s 1267 regime.
Earlier, the Foreign Office gave a briefing to the diplomatic community in Islamabad on Pakistan’s preliminary findings in investigations of the Pulwama incident. The diplomats were told at the briefing held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that Pakistan constituted an investigation team soon after India shared with it calls a paper on February 27 and detained a number of persons for investigations besides initiating work on technical aspects of social media content, a main basis of the Indian paper.
“The Indian paper contains 91 pages and 6 parts, out of which only part two or three pertain to the Pulwama incident. Other parts are generalized allegations and Pakistan will focus on those parts which are related to the Pulwama incident,” he said.
The briefing highlighted that during the course of investigations, all aspects of the information provided by India has been thoroughly examined including the ‘confessional’ video of Adil Dar, ‘claim of responsibility’ for the attack, Whatsapp and Telegram numbers used to share videos and messages in support of Pulwama attack, list of 90 individuals suspected of belonging to a proscribed organization and 22 pin locations of alleged training camps.
“Service providers were requested for data including relevant details of activities and contacts of the GSM number provided by India. A request for assistance from Whatsapp has also been made to the US government,” it was told.
The Foreign Office said additional information and documents from India will be essential to continue the process of investigations. “Pakistan remains committed to taking this process to its logical conclusion,” it said.