Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said that Pakistan will raise the issue of Indian terror financing at the international level.
In a statement on Monday, he said, “We expect the international community to take notice of solid evidence provided by Pakistan about Indian involvement in the Johar Town, Lahore, terror incident.”
The foreign minister said Pakistan is taking every possible step against terrorism and for protection of its borders. “We have carried out border fencing and cleared our tribal areas of terrorists.” He said development work has also been started in the tribal districts.
Qureshi said Pakistan has enacted legislation to check terror financing and taken steps against money laundering. The foreign minister said Pakistan desires honourable return of Afghan refugees to their homeland. “For this purpose, we will require the support of the international community,” he added. He said a comprehensive, time bound and well-resourced plan be carved out for the return of Afghan refugees.
On June 23, at least three people died and 21 others, including women and children, sustained injuries when an explosives-laden vehicle exploded near the house of Hafiz Saeed, leader of the banned Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), in Lahore’s Johar Town neighbourhood. The country’s investigation into the blast aiming at a “high-value target” concluded on July 4 that the attack was orchestrated by the Indian intelligence agency, Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).
Earlier, National Security Adviser (NSA) Dr Moeed Yousaf, in a joint news conference with Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry and Punjab Police IG Inam Ghani, said that “I want to make sure that our message is heard very clearly that this particular incident on June 23 in Lahore, we have concrete evidence and intelligence including financial and telephone records that point to direct Indian sponsorship of these terrorists.”
