'Safe haven for terrorists': MEA rejects Pak's claim of India's hand in Dasu attack

Rejecting Pakistan's accusations pointed at India in last month's Dasu terror attack in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) downright rejected the allegation levelled, terminating it an attempt to "malign India" while itself being the safe haven for terrorists.

"This is yet another attempt by Pakistan to malign India in a bid to deflect international attention from its role as the epicentre of regional instability and a safe haven for terrorists," MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said. 

The ministry's statement comes in response to Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi's claim of India and Afghanistan's hand in the suicide attack in the Dasu area of Upper Kohistan district.

Addressing a press conference, Qureshi said that vehicle used for the attack was smuggled from Afghanistan. He accused the Indian spy agency RAW (Research & Analysis Wing) and Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security of carrying out the attack. "It was a blind case but Pakistani institutions managed to trace it," he said.

He also alleged that a "common link" has been discovered between the Dasu blast and Lahore blast outside banned Jamat-ud-Dawa outfit chief Hafiz Saeed's house. Last month, Pakistan had alleged the mastermind of an attack near a terrorist's residence in Lahore was an Indian agent associated with R&AW. India, however, thrashed it as "baseless propaganda" and asked Islamabad to take action against terrorism emanating from its soil instead.

"The international community is well aware of Pakistan's credentials when it comes to terrorism. This is acknowledged by none other than its own leadership, which continues to glorify terrorists like Osama Bin Laden as 'martyrs'," he had said.

Dasu terror attack 

In a suicide attack on a shuttle bus in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa last month 13 people were killed, including nine Chinese engineers. The bomb attack took place in Upper Kohistan, where a Chinese firm is building a 4,300-megawatt hydropower project. During the time of the incident, the bus was carrying Chinese engineers and labourers to the site of the under-construction Dasu Dam. After the explosion, the bus fell into a deep ravine.