New Delhi September 5
India today rubbished Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf’s allegation that India’s external intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) was involved in attacks in that country and said it was an attempt to divert attention from the truth.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs advised Pakistan to take immediate tangible steps to end its support for cross-border terrorism “instead of producing such red herrings.”
She was responding to a question about General Musharraf’s remarks in an interview to a western news agency in which he alleged that there were “definite links” between Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaida and the banned Pakistani fundamentalist groups and accused RAW of engineering terrorist violence in Pakistan.
“It is a complete untruth which seems to have been fabricated in order to divert attention from the truth of what has now been clearly established and universally acknowledged of Pakistan sponsoring cross-border terrorism directed against India,” the spokesperson said.
On a question about the Sri Lankan government lifting the ban on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the spokesperson said the Government of India had taken note of the development.
She, however, made it clear that the development would not affect India’s policy vis-a-vis the LTTE as the Indian ban on the LTTE predated the Sri Lankan ban on the outfit. She said New Delhi was supportive of the Sri Lankan peace process and was committed to the territorial integrity of the island nation.
