Aamir Latif
30 June 2020•Update: 30 June 2020
KARACHI, Pakistan
Pakistan on Tuesday accused longtime rival India of involvement in a terror attack on its southern city of Karachi that left eight people dead including all four terrorists.
Addressing lawmakers at a parliament session originally meant for annual budget deliberations, Prime Minister Imran Khan asserted that New Delhi had hatched a "huge plan" to destabilize Pakistan through the foiled terrorist attack on Monday that targeted the country's top financial institution -- the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX).
"We have no doubt that India was behind this attack," Khan said, according to state-run TV network Pakistan Television.
"What happened in Mumbai, they wanted to do the same [in Karachi]. They wanted to spread uncertainty. We have no doubt this was done by India," he went on to say, referring to 2008 deadly Mumbai attacks that killed over 150 people.
Alleging that the terrorists had planned to take people hostage at the PSX, Khan said: "I salute the martyrs of the Karachi attack, who sacrificed their lives to thwart that attack."
"Pakistani agencies were fully prepared. It was a huge win for us."
The intelligence agencies, he further said, had prevented at least four terrorist plans in recent months, two of them near the capital Islamabad.
India rejects allegations
Rejecting Islamabad's claims, India slammed Pakistan for claiming links between New Delhi and the terror attack.
"India rejects the absurd comments of the Foreign Minister of Pakistan on the terrorist attack in Karachi,” said India's Foreign Ministry in a statement on Monday, following remarks by Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi implicating India in the attack.
"Pakistan cannot shift the blame on India for its domestic problems. Unlike Pakistan, India has no hesitation in condemning terrorism anywhere in the world, including in Karachi," said ministry spokesman Anurag Srivastava.
