Less than two months after his government released a dossier about India allegedly sponsoring terrorism in Pakistan, Prime Minister Imran Khan has said Islamic State carried out the massacre of 11 Hazara coal miners in Baluchistan last week at the behest of New Delhi.
The massacre of Hazaras had caused outrage in Pakistan, with Imran’s government facing widespread criticism. Imran made the allegation while interacting with media persons on Sunday.
“Now this [attack] that has been claimed by ISIS… the opinion of all of us [and] our security agencies is that India is backing ISIS,” Imran was quoted as saying by Dawn.
Imran alleged it was the “stated aim” of the Narendra Modi government to spread unrest in Pakistan.
Imran reiterated an old allegation of his government that India wanted to “inflame sectarianism” in Pakistan by killing Shias and Sunnis. The Hazaras were Shias.
“This [sectarian trouble] was going on for a while. Full marks [to] our ISI and world-class agencies that pre-empted this,” Imran was quoted as saying by Dawn.
Imran declared his government was the first dispensation to focus on the socio-economic development of Baluchistan.
Imran also told media persons that his government would not hold talks with India until it restored Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.
