Pakistan rejects Indian allegations linking Islamabad to alleged militant arrests and challenges New Delhi’s portrayal of the 2025 military confrontation.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has rejected allegations by Indian Home Minister Amit Shah linking Islamabad to the arrest of alleged militants in India, describing the claims as politically motivated and part of what it called a broader anti-Pakistan campaign.
Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Hussain Andrabi said the allegations were baseless and appeared designed to divert attention from India’s own internal security challenges. His comments came after Shah claimed that Indian authorities had detained more than 200 suspected militants allegedly connected to the so-called Shahzad Bhatti Network during a crackdown across 14 states on Aug. 12.
Pakistan has denied any involvement in the alleged network and accused New Delhi of repeatedly using anti-Pakistan rhetoric for domestic political purposes. Islamabad also levelled counter-allegations against India, accusing its authorities of suppressing minorities and dissent while alleging Indian involvement in destabilising activities abroad.
Andrabi also referred to Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav, who was convicted by a Pakistani military court and remains in Pakistani custody, as part of Islamabad’s longstanding allegations concerning Indian activities inside Pakistan.
The diplomatic dispute has also extended to the competing narratives surrounding the 2025 military confrontation between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.
Pakistan strongly rejected a recently produced Indian documentary on “Operation Sindoor,” arguing that it presented a selective and highly dramatized account of the conflict. Islamabad said the production relied on edited interviews, emotional narration and cinematic reconstructions rather than providing what it described as an impartial assessment of the military engagements.
Pakistan specifically questioned the chronology surrounding the April 22, 2025, Pahalgam attack and India’s subsequent military action on May 7. Islamabad argued that Indian claims concerning the later identification and elimination of alleged perpetrators raised questions about the stated rationale behind the initial operation.
Pakistan also disputed India’s portrayal of the confrontation as an unequivocal military victory. Islamabad said Pakistani forces mounted a strong response and claimed that Indian military aircraft were shot down during the hostilities. Pakistan further said it conducted Operation Bunyanum Marsoos, targeting Indian military installations with missiles, drones and other weapons.
The two sides continue to offer sharply different accounts of the confrontation, including its military outcome and the circumstances surrounding the cessation of hostilities. Pakistan said communication between the two countries’ Directors General of Military Operations and subsequent diplomatic engagement played a role in ending the fighting.
Islamabad maintained that official statements, battlefield developments and the sequence of military and diplomatic events should form the basis for assessing the conflict rather than cinematic portrayals.
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