Amidst an uptick in terrorist attacks and a growing chorus of accusations against India’s top spy agency for aiding and abetting such violence, Pakistan has decided to raise the issue at the international level.
While Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s top aide said Islamabad would name and shame New Delhi, Pakistan’s top diplomat, who left for Washington on Sunday, is expected to share with US officials evidence of RAW’s increasing involvement in stoking terrorism in Pakistan.
Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry will lead a Pakistani delegation at an important meeting of the working group under the Pakistan-US Strategic Dialogue. Foreign Office spokesperson Qazi Khalilullah confirmed to The Express Tribune that the meeting would take place on June 2 in Washington. The meeting is a part of the ongoing Strategic Dialogue between the two countries, he added without giving details.
But an official familiar with the development said that the talks would focus on bilateral relations, as well as issues related to arms control, nuclear non-proliferation and international security. The top diplomat is also scheduled to meet senior US officials during his stay in Washington.
The official, who didn’t wish to be named in the report, disclosed that Chaudhry was given a ‘brief’ by the government to inform the Obama administration about the alleged involvement of India in fomenting unrest in Pakistan.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who along with army chief General Raheel Sharif, visited the headquarters of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) on Saturday, alleged that foreign intelligence agencies were destabilising the country. It is understood that he was referring to RAW.
The official said Foreign Secretary Chaudhry would share ‘fresh evidence’ with US officials about the increased involvement of RAW in creating trouble in Pakistan. He is also expected to raise the issue of recent statements given by India’s defence and interior ministers in which they called for “neutralising terrorists through terrorists”.
Islamabad says such controversial statements confirmed its fears that Indian secret agencies were involved in terrorist activities in Pakistan.
Prime Minister’s Adviser on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz also indicated on Sunday that Pakistan would expose India at the international level for ‘stoking unrest in the country’.
Speaking at a function organised by Nazria Pakistan Council, Aziz made it clear that Pakistan would not allow its enemies to undermine the Pakistan-China Economic Corridor.
He also insisted that the Indian ambition for hegemony in the region would not be allowed to succeed. Aziz maintained that Pakistan’s nuclear explosions in 1998 had ‘shattered India’s dream’ to establish its hegemony in the South Asian region.
