India-Pakistan conflict: The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Sunday firmly rejected Pakistan’s allegations that New Delhi was involved in the recent suicide bombing in North Waziristan that killed 13 Pakistani soldiers.
MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, in a strongly worded statement posted on X (formerly Twitter), said: “We have seen an official statement by the Pakistan Army seeking to blame India for the attack on Waziristan on 28 June. We reject this statement with the contempt it deserves.”
The statement came in response to Pakistan’s Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), which suggested Indian involvement in the deadly incident, further escalating tensions between the two neighbours.
What happened in Waziristan?
On Saturday, a suicide bomber drove an explosives-laden vehicle into a Pakistani military convoy in North Waziristan, located in the restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The attack killed 13 soldiers, wounded 10 others, and injured 19 civilians. A local official told The Dawn that the bombing was “devastating” and that rescue operations were still underway.
The Pakistan Army attributed the attack to a little-known militant group called Fitna-al-Khawarij. The attack follows a recent intelligence-based operation in South Waziristan where two Pakistani soldiers and 11 militants were killed. As of now, no organisation has officially claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing.
Cross-border tensions
Security analysts link the surge in violence in Waziristan and adjacent areas to the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan in August 2021. Since then, Pakistan has reported a notable rise in cross-border militancy, frequently accusing the Afghan Taliban of providing sanctuary to anti-Pakistan elements, an allegation that Kabul consistently denies.
India has consistently maintained that Pakistan should focus on tackling terrorism within its own borders rather than deflecting blame.