India Demands Pakistan Rein in Pakistani-based Kashmiri Resistance Groups

26/05/2001| IslamWeb

NEW DELHI (Islamweb & News Agencies) - India on Friday blamed a Pakistan-based Islamic guerrilla group for the bloodbath at its parliament and Pakistan warned India against any ``misadventure'' in retaliation.
As tension ran high between the nuclear-armed arch-enemies, the Lashkar-e-Taiba Resistance group denied blame for Thursday's raid, in which five men stormed the parliament with guns, grenades and bombs and killed seven people before being killed themselves.
India's External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh said New Delhi had asked Pakistan to halt the operations of Lashkar-e-Taiba and another Kashmiri separatist group, Jaish-e-Mohammed, to freeze their assets and to take their leaders into custody.
``India has technical evidence that yesterday's terrorist attacks...on the seat of Indian democracy and the sovereignty of the Indian people was the handiwork of a terrorist organization based in Pakistan -- Lashkar-e-Taiba,'' he told reporters.
``The technical evidence is entirely credible.'' He did not give details, but said it had been passed to the United States and other countries.
Pakistan's top military spokesman voiced doubts about the Indian accusation and said the army was on alert to guard against any violation of the border with India.
``I hope there will be no move toward a misadventure,'' spokesman Major-General Rashid Qureshi said during a discussion on state television. Pakistan would take a ``strong action'' against any border or airspace violation, he added.
A Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman invited India to produce the evidence.
``If India provides us with evidence, we will examine it,'' the official Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) news agency quoted him as saying.
``This is a lie and baseless,'' a Lashkar spokesman, Yahya Mujahid, said of the allegation. ``This is drama staged by Indian intelligence agencies in collusion with the Indian government to have jihadi (militant) groups and Pakistan declared as terrorists,'' he said.
Singh did not say what India would do if Pakistan refused its demands for action against the Resistance groups. An External Affairs Ministry spokeswoman said no deadline had been set, but India expected a swift response.